Heartbeat
by redhandedwickedlittlemachine
Summary: Lucian. Lucy and Ian hook up while she's still dating Chris, and she gets pregnant. Wanna know more? Read and find out.
1. Against All Odds

**A/N: **Had an awkward moment when I didn't know what T. Swift song to use or Chrucy…It phased me that using any song off of Speak Now and even Fearless would probably earn me getting my head ripped of from Lucian fans. :P Anyhow, read on!

OH! And if you don't follow me on twitter, THIS IS A MULTI-CHAPTERED FIC. My other stories (if you hadn't noticed) are series oneshots. This story is meant to flow together. BTW: Twitter names used in this are meant to be fictional (obviously, since this is a fiction RPF story). That said, I apologize I actually used your name.

_Heartbeat_

_Chapter 1_

_Against All Odds_

Lucy stared at the small stick in her hand as tears ran down her face. A part of her wanted to scream and yell, and say she had no clue how this had happened. She wanted to be able to say that she didn't know how she was standing here with this situation in front of her. But she knew she couldn't do that.

Annie knocked on the door and called her name, and Lucy jumped. She wrapped her hands tightly around the small white stick and she looked towards the door. She stuffed it into the pocket of her jeans and then pulled her t-shirt down over it and walked over to the mirror. She wiped away the tears on her face and made sure she looked presentable before she opened the door.

Annie smiled at her. "Hey sweetie. Everything okay?"

Lucy nodded, forcing a smile on her face. "Yeah. Everything's great. What's up?" "Claire just called," Annie replied. "She wanted to know if we wanted to get dinner with her Kurt." Lucy pulled her phone out of her pocket and looked at the message on her screen. "I- um, Ian called. He's- We have to talk."

She pushed through the doorway without saying anything else and walked down the hall to her room. She pushed her door shut behind her and then walked over to her desk and pulled the stick from her pocket. She tucked it into her bag and then tapped her phone a few times.

Ian had texted her earlier in the day to ask if she had wanted to meet up for coffee. They had a lot to talk about. After she had left him after the Ustream a few weeks before, they'd left on the terms that they'd talk when she got back. After all, they hadn't really seen each other since hiatus had started.

It wasn't that she minded taking time away from her cast mates to spend with other people; it honestly wasn't. It was the fact that Ian was one of her closest friends, but it seemed that in the last two months, they had barely said anything beyond a text asking how the other was doing, here and there. The Ustream had been planned to remedy that, among other things.

She grabbed a bag from her closet and stuffed a few pairs of clothes into it as well before she grabbed her purse off her desk and then walked out of her room.

"Can you keep an eye on Jack for a while?" She asked as she walked towards the door. She snatched her coat off of a hook next to the door. "I'll be back when I can." Annie grabbed her arm as she reached the door. "What's going on?"

Lucy looked up at her best friend. "I just, I can't get into it right now. I need to talk with Ian." "That's just it, Lucy! **Chris** is your boyfriend! Why is Ian so important now?"

Lucy shook her head again. "Please, Annie. Just let me do this. I promise I'll explain later." She turned back to the door, and breathed a slight sigh of relief when Annie didn't try to stop her again. She opened the door, muttering under her breath, "I won't really have a choice."

She dashed out of her apartment building and then rushed to her car. She tossed her things haphazardly into the passenger seat as she started the car. Once it was running, she yanked her seatbelt across her body while pulling onto the road.

Her drive was quick. Ian's apartment building was less than a mile away, and before she knew it, she was pulling down into the guest parking in his building's parking garage. She threw her car into park, shut it down, and then grabbed her purse before getting out of the car.

She crossed the parking structure quickly and then punched the up button on the elevator. It couldn't come fast enough as she typed a quick text to let him know that she was there. The elevator finally arrived and she jumped into it, punching the button for the fifth floor.

She tapped her foot impatiently as she stood there, almost vibrating with how much nervous energy was racing through her.

The elevator finally opened again, and she stepped out, beat-footing it down the hall to Ian's door. When she finally stepped up to it, she was just about to lift her hand to pound on the door when it opened in front of her. Ian was standing in front of her. Lucy pushed past him without saying a word and tossed her bag on the coffee table before whipping around to face him.

"What's going on?" He asked. He knew he had texted her to ask if they could meet, but ever since then she'd seemed anxious.

"What's going on is we're fucked," she said.

Ian shook his head, blinking bewilderedly. "W-What?"

Lucy slapped him across the face with all the energy she could muster, though it only led to her trembling as she clenched her hands into fists. There were tears in her eyes.

Ian lifted his head back up slowly, bringing his hand up to his quickly reddening cheek. He had tears in his own eyes, but he looked incredibly pissed.

"What the **fuck** did I do?" He yelled at her.

Lucy stared him down, clenching her jaw as tears started to roll down her face. "I'm sorry," she whimpered. "I know it's my fault, not yours…I just…"

She shook her head, walking over to the couch. She sat down and wrapped her arms around her body, rubbing her hands up and down her upper arms.

"_What_ are you talking about," Ian asked. His anger was dribbling away quickly. He was more worried about why she was so upset. He walked over to her and sat down next to her, gently placing an arm around her. "Talk to me, Goose."

Lucy shook her head, looking up at him. She loosened her arms and gently reached up to the red mark she'd left on his face. "I'm really sorry. I'm just really scared right now."

Ian reached up and pulled her hand down off his face. He held her hand in his own. "Just tell me what's wrong. What happened?"

Lucy sniffled, wiping away some of the tears on her face. "I was looking at the calendar because we go to work next week, and you know how I write everything down."Ian nodded. He moved his hands up to her face and wiped away her remaining tears. "So what did you miss?"

"My period," Lucy muttered. "I'm pregnant, Ian. And there's no way that the baby could be Chris'."

Ian stared at her blank-faced for a few moments. He squeezed her hand lightly. "You're sure?"Lucy nodded. "Chris and I were barely together. I told him I wasn't ready, and that when I was, I'd let him know. We didn't even do anything until the end of February. But with you…""Valentines day," Ian murmured.

Lucy nodded, whimpering. "I didn't even think about it at first. I had toiletries and everything packed for that trip, and I never used them. I didn't think about it. Everything in the last few weeks has just been about going and going and going, I guess I figured I was too stressed by all the work I had to do."

"Are you absolutely sure," Ian asked her.

Lucy nodded again. "I should've started my cycle almost a week ago. I'm- I n-need to make an appointment with my physician, but I'm positive that I'm pregnant."

Ian took several deep breaths, soaking in the information. After a few long minutes of silence, he turned his attention back to her. "What about Chris?"

Lucy shrugged, shaking her head again as her bottom lip trembled. "I'm an idiot? I should've broken up with Chris after **we** had sex."

"We were drinking, Luce. I doubt he would hold it against you."

Lucy looked back at him. "_I_ was drinking, Ian. I know how you are about alcohol. I was stupid. I thought that maybe if I continued dating Chris, that the feelings I was having would go away, but the longer it's gone on, the more guilty and stupid I've felt."

"What do you mean?" Ian asked.

Lucy pulled her hand from his and wrung her hands together. She stared down at the floor. "I knew you had feelings, Ian. More than what I did. When we went on break, I figured the distance would be good for us. I thought, maybe if we were apart for a while, then you would find someone else. Then I started dating Chris, but the next thing I knew the fans were going nuts and one minute they were happy and the next I'm being told I'm a bitch because of all of this, and-"

"Slow down," Ian coaxed her. "Take a breath."

Lucy shook her head. "You don't know what it's like, Ian. The kind of weight that causes, when everyone is telling you that you're dating the wrong person, and you're a whore, and your boyfriend is an idiot getting in the middle of something indestructible. Even **I **knew they were right, but I was too scared to admit it. I was too afraid that you'd be just like all the other guys in the last few years."

Ian shook his head. "I'd never do that to you, Lucy. Not ever."

"I **know** that _now_," she replied. "I just- On Valentines Day, I kept thinking about how hundreds of kids couldn't be right. A-And I knew that it wasn't just kids. I knew there were girls close to my age who saw it in you, and I just wanted to deny it. But when we were here, I kept thinking maybe if I kissed you, I'd be able to feel what everyone saw. The next thing I knew…"

"We were in my bed," Ian replied softly. "But that really doesn't answer my question. What're you going to do about Chris?"

Lucy shook her head. "What _can_ I do? I mean I guess I could give him the option of continuing this, but is that really fair? My heart's not in it. I think the best thing to do is just end it."

"And what about us?" Ian asked. "Or is there an us at all?"

Lucy laughed softly. "Ian, we've never even been out on a date."

He tilted his head at her. "Really, Luce? That's what you're worried about? We've been kissing each other for two years, and we've had plenty of conversations over coffee and dinner. So tell me, what's stopping us now?"

"Let's just take it slow right now," she replied. "I need to talk things over with Chris, and then we need to make some decisions."

She moved to get up off the couch, but Ian grabbed her, inadvertently causing her to land in his lap. He rested his arms loosely around her.

"I want this baby with you, Lucy. I'm sure of it."

Lucy chuckled, resting her head against his. "We're going to be in so much trouble."

"At least we won't be alone." Ian replied. He rubbed his hand up and down her back comfortingly and kissed the side of her head.

They sat like that for a few moments, but it quickly faded away when Lucy's phone went off.

"_And he says:Our song is slamming screen door,  
><em>_Sneaking out late, tapping on your window  
><em>_When we're on the phone and you talk real-"_

Lucy groaned, pulling her phone from her pocket. "I guess I'm telling him today." She moved off of Ian's lap and stood up, crossing her left arm across her body as she answered her phone and brought it up to her ear. "Hey."

Ian stood from his spot on the couch and walked over his bedroom. He snatched a black sweatshirt off his bed and pulled it on before zipping it up and walking back out to the family room. He walked over to the kitchen and grabbed a glass out of the drying rack in his sink and filled it with water, watching warily as Lucy talked to Chris. He wasn't necessarily _trying_ to eavesdrop on her conversation, but he was worried about how Lucy was going to handle telling Chris that she was pregnant.

"I'm not upset," she murmured softly as she paced the floor of Ian's apartment.

He took a long drink from his glass of water.

"No, I just-…" She sighed. "I know when I tell you what I _have_ to tell you, you're going to be upset."

She paused, looking up at Ian. He heard the garbled speaking of what sounded like _just tell me what's wrong. _

"I did something a few weeks ago, and I-" Lucy shook her head as tears started to run down her face again. "I know that you're going to want me to say it was a bad or stupid choice, but I don't know that it was."

Ian settled his glass on the counter and walked over to Lucy. He could see that she was becoming more upset the longer the conversation went on.

_What did you do?_

Lucy opened her mouth to speak but the words didn't come. Ian could tell that it was eating at her, trying to have this conversation. He put his hand out, offering silently to do it for her. She looked at him and then weakly passed over her phone. Ian took it from her, wrapping his free arm around her in a hug. She buried her face in his chest, fisting his sweater in both hands as she wrapped her arms tightly around him.

"She's pregnant," he said finally. "And it's not your baby."

There was a long pause on the other line. Ian pulled the phone away from his ear wondering if Chris had hung up. The conversation was still going on.

"_How can you be sure of that?" _Finally came over the line.

"Lucy knows her own body," Ian replied. "Look, she didn't intend for this to happen. Neither did I. It just did." _"And this is Ian I'm talking to?"_

"Yes," Ian replied with a heavy breath. "Look, I'm sure you have a lot of questions and-"

"_I really don't. I just don't understand how I thought such a slut could be as pure as I thought she was." _

Before Ian could reply with the slew of comments and curse words he'd been dying to say to the older man for over a month, the line clicked dead.

"Well, that was a lovely conversation," he muttered as he pulled her phone away from his ear. Within seconds, Lucy's phone buzzed with a new text message.

Lucy lifted her head and took the phone from him. She furrowed her brow as she read the text message and then opened her twitter feed.

"What's wrong?" He asked.

"Chris is blowing up his twitter feed," Lucy muttered as she sat down on his couch. Ian walked over to her and peered over his shoulder as she read the comments on her screen.

_**ChrisZylka  
><strong>__**Sad when you find out the girl you  
><strong>__**trust the most is boning her REAL best friend.**_

Lucy tapped her phone as the screen lit up with _one new tweet. _

_**ChrisZylka  
><strong>__**Hope they just love that bundle of obvious  
><strong>__**alcohol-induced sex. lucyyhale**_

Lucy shook her head tossing her phone lightly onto the coffee table. She crossed an arm over her lap and rested her elbow on her knee, covering her mouth with her hand.

Ian shook his head, grabbing her legs and pulling her so that she was facing him, resting her legs in his lap.

"Hey. Don't let what he's saying get to you. God knows he's probably gonna get bombarded with fifty-thousand tweets about how he never deserved you. God knows all those fifteen year old girls are right."

Lucy laughed as Ian brushed a strand of hair out of her face. "You really think so?"

Ian nodded. "Why wouldn't I? I've always loved you, Luce."

Lucy giggled softly, closing her eyes as she rested her head against Ian's shoulder. "I guess its not entirely unlikely that when they say sometimes you're looking for what's right in front of you, is true. I'm only sorry I didn't realize it sooner."

"Life is a learning curve," Ian replied softly. "Don't you remember what our girl Taylor said? You never know everything." Lucy laughed again. "You and Taylor Swift. You sure you're not with the wrong girl?"

Ian lifted her head, resting his finger under her chin. "I'm absolutely positive."

Almost on cue, both of their iPhones started to buzz obnoxiously on the coffee table as a bombarding of text messages started to fly in.

"I really hoped that this wasn't going to start _now_," Lucy said softly. She reached forward and grabbed their phones, and then handed Ian his. They both opened their inboxes.

"Well," he said. "I've got messages from Holly, Chad, Marlene, Keegan, Tyler, and my sister." Lucy giggled as she scrolled through her own text messages. "Annie, Claire, Marlene, Troian, Ashley, and Shay, my sister." She let out a surprised laugh. "Even Kurt texted."

They lookked up at each other.

"What do you want to tell people right now," Ian asked Lucy.

Lucy shrugged. "Right now? Except for a family and a few people, I'd like to keep it between us." "So what should we say?"

Lucy pursed her lips as she thought for a few seconds. After a moment, she looked back at him. "That we're just trying to figure things out. I mean, I have to tell my family and Annie and Claire the truth. I'll tell Troian, Ash, and Shay in a few weeks. Whoever you decide to tell is your own choice. I just don't want it splashed all over page six when I haven't even seen a doctor yet."

That said, Lucy began typing out a mass reply to her sister, Annie, Claire, and Marlene that she and Ian were dating, and pregnant. She also asked that they give her a bit, and that she would explain to each of them individually.

On his own phone, Ian sent a quick reply to his sister, Holly, and Keegan, alerting them as well that he and Lucy were dating.

He laughed as he read through the messages individually.

_Momma Bear:  
><em>_Did you finally get her, rookie?  
><em>_Chris is taking to twitter like a mad man._

Another text message, a few moments later.

_Wait, is she pregnant too? What did I miss?_

Ian smiled as he read the text. People often picked on their relationship because of their very obvious and _joking_ twitter arguments. His friendship with Holly was that of a mentor/student relationship in a lot of ways. She understood things about the business that he had yet to learn. But more than that, Holly had known from the day Ian himself had realized it, that Ian was in love with Lucy. She had always supported him, and often was his sounding board when Ian needed someone to blow off steam to about the relationship. He adored the comradeship between them. She was great to have around when he couldn't talk to his mom or sister.

He opened a tentative text reply and began to type.

_It happened on Valentines Day. Didn't now what  
><em>_was going to happen, so I didn't say anything.  
><em>_I'll tell you more later…or leave it to Luce.  
><em>_And yes, she is. Shh. We're only telling a few ppl._

He sent off the text message, only to realize he had one back from Keegan.

_Keegan:  
><em>_Took you long enough. V-Day?  
><em>_Nice one. Did you at least give her flowers?_

"How'd your sister react?" Ian asked as he continued reading his text messages.

Lucy turned her phone around and showed him the conversation.

_Megs:  
><em>_SERIOUSLY! Legit squealing right  
><em>_now!_

Ian laughed. "That's lovely."

Lucy nodded, turning her phone back around. "Annie said she wasn't surprised. I'm sure she had it figured out the minute I went storming out of the apartment saying I had to come over here. My twitter feed is a little more crazy than that.

Curious, Ian opened his own twitter feed and opened the interactions tab. It was blowing up faster than he could read some of them.

_**lucianlives  
><strong>__**IANMHARDING wait, lucyyhale is pregnant!  
><strong>__**WITH YOUR BABY?**_

_**mrzfitz  
><strong>__**ianmharding and lucyyhale are legit together?  
><strong>__**FANGIRLING RIGHT NOW!**_

"I'm taking to twitter right now," Lucy told him as she continued pushing on the screen of her phone. "And for now, denying pregnancy rumors. I don't want it known publicly until we've seen a doctor and out of the first trimester. Is that okay?" Ian nodded. "It's the logical way to do things."

_**lucyyhale  
><strong>__**There's nothing better than  
><strong>__**kissing your best friend just because you can.**_

_**lucyyhale  
><strong>__**chriszylka if you love somebody,  
><strong>__**you love them all the same.**_

"What's the reply to Chris for?" Ian asked her as he leaned back against the couch. Lucy was already leaning back against it, next to him.

"Just making a point," Lucy replied. "Besides, I posted something _just_ for you right after that." She blushed as she said that, turning her attention back to her phone.

"Aww," Ian said. "Favorite-ing that tweet right now." After a moment of consideration, he opened a new text message to her.

_Lucy Hale:  
><em>_I kinda love kissing my best friend too  
><em>_:*_

He sent the message and then went back to his twitter feed.

_**H_Combs  
><strong>__**Sees that ianmharding must really  
><strong>__**have something to smile about lucyyhale**_

He chuckled and went back to his own feed and began to type.

_**ianmharding  
><strong>__**You capture my attention, I'm anticipating  
><strong>__**I'm watching, I'm waiting for you to make your move**_

_**ianmharding  
><strong>__**Carefully listening, don't want 2 miss a thing  
><strong>__**Keeping my eyes on you, got me on my toes**_

"That might be the most cheese ball thing you've ever posted on twitter, Shmian." Lucy commented as she continued typing like a mad scientist on her phone.

"I'm sorry," he teased. "I thought we were trying to be cryptic. Song lyrics can be cryptic."

Lucy nodded, looking up at him with a smirk. Ian leaned over and kissed her chastely. It was quick and innocent, mostly just because he wanted to.

Lucy smiled at him and then looked back down at her phone. She lifted it up and snapped a photo of him as he turned his attention back to his own phone, immersing himself in a discussion with Sarah.

"Did you hear back from Marlene?" Ian asked her.

Lucy looked up from her phone. "She said we'd talk about it more when we go back to work. I think she's worried about having to change the entire storyline."

"Hopefully not," Ian replied.

Lucy nodded, looking back down at her phone. "Claire is going nuts. And she's ripping Chris's head off over twitter…Which reminds me…" She tapped on her screen a few times and then went over to Chris' page. Her finger lingered over the unfollow button or several moments as she stared at his photo. It was a picture of the both of him. Lucy felt a pang of sadness in her chest.

She honestly did feel bad. She had really liked Chris, and had never intended for the relationship to go south. She actually thought he might be the right guy for her when she first met him. She never thought that things would end up going the way they did.

Even so, as she could see his most recent (and still coming in) tweets, she knew she couldn't continue to follow him. He was being very slanderous about her, and she knew reading things like that wouldn't bode well for her. She tapped the unfollow button, thought she couldn't stop herself from reading.

_**chriszylka  
><strong>**What a winner. Liquor her up  
><strong>**and get her in bed. Great job, ianmharding**_

_**claireleahy  
><strong>**chriszylka ianmharding this coming from the guy  
><strong>**who was using her as a rebound.**_

_**chriszylka  
><strong>**claireleahy maybe so, but at least  
><strong>**I really loved her.**_

_**claireleahy  
><strong>**chriszylka yep, so much so that youre  
><strong>**already putting LOVE in the PAST tense.  
><strong>**Careful, your idiot is showing.**_

_**chriszylka  
><strong>**claireleahy careful, your bitch is showing.**_

_**claireleahy  
><strong>**chriszylka try this one one for size:  
><strong>**RT lucyyhale ianmharding in the disorder,  
><strong>**You are the peace sign.**_

'You're not being very subtle," Ian told her as she continued reading the feed.

"Sorry," she replied with a laugh. "I'm trying to piss of Chris. He isn't being very nice right now."

"In the kind of ways that would make me want to punch him?" Ian asked.

Lucy looked up at him. "In the ways that his twitter mentions are going to be spammed for days by Lucian fans demanding for him to shut up unless he wants them to kill him."

"Oh, that's not already happening?" Ian chuckled.

"Au contraire," Lucy said. "They're going nuts on him."

Ian peered down at her phone and saw some of the comments he was making to Claire. "Really subtle, he is. And so well mannered."

"Of course," Lucy replied.

Ian laughed. "Go take a look at Holly's page."

Lucy tapped on her screen and went to her following page, and clicked on Holly's twitter name. The page opened a moment later.

_**H_Combs  
><strong>__**Funny how true colors come out  
><strong>__**When people can't handle rejection.  
><strong>__**chriszylka lucyyhale ianmharding**_

_**H_Combs  
><strong>__**Ha! No way, rookie. RT ianmharding  
><strong>__**C'mere, Holls. Let me love you.**_

_**H_Combs  
><strong>__**Not true. Just happy to see my babies happy.  
><strong>__**Team Jason. RT ianmharding even H_Combs is a closet  
><strong>__**Lucian/Ezria fan.**_

Lucy finally closed her twitter feed and dropped her phone into her lap, watching as Ian continued to type on his phone for a few more moments before he finally set his down. He turned towards her.

"This day has gotten better very fast, because of you. Thank you," Lucy said.

Ian smiled at her. "I can't possibly let you continue to cry. It makes me sad to see you said. Like I said before, I love you, Luce. Nothing is going to change that. And I don't really see anyone saying they don't approve. At least not anyone who really matters." Lucy nodded. She scooted forward so that she was closer to him, her legs still draped over his lap. Ian wrapped his arm around her and kissed her forehead.

"I'm tired," she said softly as she rested her head on his shoulder. Ian rubbed his hand up and down her arm for a few moments.

"You want to sleep here? Cause I _know_ you know that my bed is a whole lot more comfortable."

Lucy nodded. "I'm too lazy to walk there, though."

Ian laughed. He slipped his arm under her legs and Lucy wrapped her arms around his neck. It took a moment, but he pushed himself to his feet and carried her the ten or so feet to his room, resting her gently against the bed.

"I'm not breakable," Lucy teased as she snuggled against the bed. "Just pregnant."

"With my baby," Ian murmured softly. It was the first time he'd said that, and it almost felt strange on his tongue. Even so, it made him smile. He turned to walk out of his room, but Lucy reached out and grabbed his hand. "Aren't you going to lay with me?" She pouted.

Ian rolled his eyes. "I suppose. I guess I could use a nap too."

He walked around the bed and then laid down on the opposite side. Lucy turned her head to look at him.

"You're so far away."

"So scoot over," he said cheerfully.

"You scoot over," she whined. "I'm too tired."

Ian shook his head at her as chuckled, He moved over the six or so inches between them and moved his arm so that she could snuggle up against him. His arms wrapped loosely around her and he held her hands, lacing their fingers together.

"I'll call my doctor later today and ask her to order a blood test. I have to go in for my physical tomorrow anyway for work."

When Ian didn't reply, she looked over her shoulder. He was already asleep. She just chuckled and turned her head back around, burying her face in his arm. Soon enough, she was asleep too.


	2. Florescent Tides, You're Mine Tonight

_Chapter 2_

_Florescent Tides, You're Mine Tonight_

Lucy settled in a booth outside of Starbucks. Ian had ducked into the bathroom, and they had just come from the doctor, who had confirmed she **was**, in fact pregnant. She was just about five weeks along by her own recollection, but he had set her up for a sonogram in a few days just to be absolutely sure.

She took a long breath and lifted her coffee up to her lips. She was grateful that she hadn't had any aversions to it. Coffee was her lifeline as much as it was Ian's.

Her phone buzzed on the table. She smiled, seeing a picture of she and Holly light up on it. She picked it up and brought it up to her ear.

"Hey!" She spoke cheerfully.

"_Hey, goose! How're you and rookie today? The boy __**said**__ he was going to call me after your appointment." _

Lucy chuckled. "We're good. Just came from the doctor, who confirmed things." She spoke tentatively, not wanting to say anything incase there were photographers or reporters around. The last thing she and Ian wanted was to end up on the cover of some web page or magazine.

"_Glad to hear it," _Holly said back.

Lucy smiled, moving her straw in her drink. She took a deep breath and turned to watch as cars breezed past her. "Can I just ask you one thing?" _"Of course, goose." _

"Why didn't you ever say anything? About Ian's feelings?"

She heard Holly sigh on the other end of the line.

"_I thought that would be easiest for you to figure out, sweetie. It wasn't my place to say anything. I knew Ian would when he was ready. I knew he loved you, and that he didn't want to hurt you by telling you that when you weren't ready to hear it." _

"It just seems it was unfair to him," Lucy said softly.

"_Well the boy __**did**__ get to kiss you quite a few times in the last two years, so I imagine he wasn't as sad as he could've been," _Holly said with a laugh.

Lucy chuckled. Holly was right.

"_Don't beat yourself up over it, darlin. What's done is done, and what matters is that you __**are**__ together. Just enjoy yourself. I've got to- Finley!" _

Before Holly finished her sentence, the line clicked dead, and Lucy couldn't help but laugh. She pulled her phone away from her ear and placed it on the table. Ian walked out a moment later, carrying his own cup.

Lucy stood from her seat and walked over to him, tucking her phone into the pocket of her black skinny jeans. She slipped her hand into Ian's as she walked over to him. He laced his fingers between hers, leaning down to kiss her as they walked towards the end of the block.

"You want to go home?" Lucy shook her head. "Let's just walk for a while. Something tells me I'm gonna miss it when I can't see my feet anymore."

Ian cackled, shaking his head at her. They walked up to the end of the block and then stopped, waiting for traffic to come to a stop.

"Holly called right before you came out," Lucy told him. "She said you promised to call right after the appointment." Ian nodded. "It was eight-thirty when we left, and by the time we got out of that appointment, I was dying for caffeine."

Lucy giggled. They both had been up since just after eight, but Ian still looked like he'd just woken up. "Caffiene. Mmm. I'm gonna miss that."

The light turned green and they both crossed the street.

"Start drinking chai tea. It's heaven."

Lucy giggled, moving into him. She slipped her arm around him under his unbuttoned jacket. Ian wrapped his arm around her shoulders and rubbed his hand up and down her bicep.

"That's only because you live at starbucks," she teased.

Ian gaped at her, feigning mock horror. "I do not! I live to _breathe_ caffeine!"

Lucy just giggled at him as they continued to walk. As cheerful as she was to be returning to work in a few days, she knew that occasions like this would become are and few between over the next few months. God knew that there was a chance that when they went on break in a few months, she probably wouldn't be able to see her feet again.

Eventually they stopped walking as they came upon a park. Lucy watched as kids charged across the park at their parents, and chasing after each other. She couldn't help but giggle. The idea of being able to see Ian with a baby that was her own child in a mere few months crushed down upon her like an iron weight, and she couldn't help but love it.

"How could I have been so blind," she murmured as she settled into his lap on a bench.

Ian shook his head, rubbing his hand up and down her back. "Don't beat yourself up over the past. I tend to believe if things don't happen at a certain point and time, it's because we're not ready for them at the time."

Lucy giggled and shook her head at him, resting her forehead against his. "How can you be so positive about this when I was so blind to it all?"

Ian shrugged. "You're here now."

She rolled her eyes and lifted her head up, pushing his face away from her as they both laughed.

"You're so corny," she said with a laugh. "You should write love songs with all those cheesy ideas."

"Maybe I'll do just that," he said mid-giggle.

_-  
>And the words you want are out of reach<br>__But they've never been so loud  
>- <em>

Lucy yawned as she laid back on her bed. She had opted to go home for the night, feeling as if she'd been neglectful of Jack lately. She hated being away from him with all the press she'd had to do, and she knew in her heart, Jack was her first baby.

She patted the bed and he hopped up next to her, resting his chin on her leg. She chuckled and scratched the top of his head. "You ready to be an older brother, Jacky?" He yapped softly and Lucy chuckled.

Annie came to lean against the doorway, holding Jack in her arms. Lucy looked up at her and smiled.

"Look, Jack! It's Jack!"

Jack popped up and turned on the bed as Annie walked over to the bed. "Victoria asked me to baby sit while she ran out and did some shopping. You up for some practice." "Of course!" Lucy said giddily. She loved babies. She used to day dream all the time about what it would be like to have a baby, five or so years down the road. She never expected that, on the edge of twenty three, she'd be pregnant. Then again, she never expected that she'd be the kind of girl who spent forever looking for what was right in front of her face. It had occurred to her a lot lately; how many times had she told Ian about Alex or some other guy, and how they had hurt her. How she just wanted to find the **right **guy. How she always believed she would just _know_ when she had met that guy. Yet, all along, he had been right in front of her face.

She leaned forward and cradled her arms as Annie leaned forward to placed baby Jack in her arms. Lucy chuckled as he cooed up at her and shifted slightly in her arms.

"Hi, sweetie! Aren't you cute today?"

She chuckled as he grasped her index finger in his hand and squeezed. She looked up at Annie.

"I can't believe you and Ian are having a baby. It still feels so…I don't know," she murmured.

Lucy smiled. "I couldn't believe it until this morning when the doctor actually did the blood test. I mean, I know I saw the stick turn blue and everything but…" She shook her head, looking back down at Jack.

"Do you know when they're doing your first sonogram?"

Lucy shrugged, looking back up at Annie. "Some time next week. It's transvaginal though, so I'm less than excited," she murmured. "There's just something about that that just doesn't seem right to me."

Annie chuckled, shaking her head. "Do you want me to have Victoria call you? I'm sure she can talk you down from a panic attack." "I might just take you up on that," Lucy said with a chuckle. She let out a long sigh and looked up at Annie.

"So what's really on your mind?" Annie asked. "I mean I know you're happy, but I can tell that you're more than happy."

Lucy shrugged. "Part of me is so ecstatic, because I couldn't imagine picking someone better to have a baby with. The other half of me is kicking myself though. I wish we had dated. I wish we had spent a few years together as Lucy and Ian. I wish we were at least engaged." "Do you want to get married right now?" Annie asked her.

Lucy shook her head. "Not now. It wouldn't feel right. It would feel forced." Tears filled her eyes, regardless of how much she didn't want to feel weak or stupid. "I just don't want this baby to feel like we didn't want it."

"Sweetie, I **know** you are going to love that baby with everything inside of you, and so is Ian. Everyone knows how much you two care about each other, and I highly doubt there's anything you two can do wrong when you team up. I mean, you've seen him with his nephew, right?"

Lucy nodded, reaching up to wipe away the tears in her eyes. She had seen Ian multiple times with Sarah's son. She knew how much Ian loved kids.

The sound of knocking traveled through the apartment and Annie pushed up from the bed.

"Wonder who that could be," she teased. Lucy chuckled and got up off the bed and followed her out of the room. She stood nearby as Annie walked up to the door and opened it. Ian stood in ront of them, holding up a grocery bag.

"I'm come bearing sweedish fish and sour straws." Lucy beamed at him. "Yum!"

Ian chuckled. "I even brought beggin strips for Jack."

"Did you hear that Jack?" Annie called to Lucy's bedroom. The malti-poo came charging down the hall as Ian pulled the bag of treats from the grocery bag.

Ian chuckled, kneeling down in front of him. Jack pushed up onto Ian's knee for leverage as he licked his chin. Ian chuckled, tearing the bag open.

"Guess what Jack," Ian teased in a whisper. "Its not _real_ bacon!"

Jack barked at him and Ian tossed a strip across the floor. Jack went charging after it and then pinned it under is paws as he leaned down to gnaw on it. Ian stood up and settled the bag of treats on the table, picking up the grocery bag as well. He smiled at Lucy and then looked down at baby Jack.

"This is your sister's baby," he asked to Annie, brushing his knuckles against Jack's hair.

Annie nodded. "Baby Jack. I've gotta run and meet Claire at the nail salon. Would you mind…" She asked, turning to Lucy.

"Not at all," Lucy insisted. "Besides, I know you totally set me up." Annie giggled. "Of course I did." She leaned over and kissed Jack's forehead and then hugged Lucy lightly and waved to Ian. "I'll be back in an hour or so."

She leaned over and grabbed her purse off the counter and then headed out of the apartment while Lucy carried a now sleeping Jack over to the couch and sat down, adjusting him slightly in her arms. Ian followed her over, pulling up the large foot stool that went with her chair and kicking his feet up onto it. Lucy shifted on the couch and Ian moved his arms, wrapping them around her as she laid up against him. He flipped through the channels on the TV until they finally settled on watching whatever movie was currently playing on lifetime. Neither of them was actually all that interested in watching the TV, but it was left on anyway.

For a while, they simply sat in each other's company, and Lucy watched Jack sleep while Ian watched the both of them. It was a sight that gave him an elated feeling.

"I like seeing you like this," he murmured softly into her ear.

"What?" she joked. "Tired?"

Ian shook his head. "With a baby, being all motherly."

"Motherly," Lucy repeated. The word felt weird inside her mouth. It almost seemed abstract. "That feels weird to say."

Ian chuckled. "You've got eight months to get used to it."

"Just in time to lose all my mid-day naps," she joked. "I have no idea how I'm going to get through the next few months."

"Lots and lots of willpower," Ian said.

Lucy chuckled, dropping her head back against his shoulder. Her life still felt so abstract to her. She kept waiting to wake up and find out that she was still with Chris, and hadn't in fact had Ian confess his true feelings to her. She expected to wake up and find out that she wasn't pregnant. That she was going to back to work next week, and nothing had changed.

But she knew that wasn't going to happen. And yet, she couldn't help but feel happier about it.


	3. Somewhere Perfection Lies

**A/N: Early on in the chapter, this is going to sound confusing, but this chapter has Lucy at 6 weeks along. In parentheses, its stated that she's nine weeks along by medical standards. That's because for some cockamamie reason in the US, doctors set how far along you are by when your last cycle started. I'm going from when she got knocked up. **

**Onward!**

_Chapter 3_

_Somewhere Perfection Lies_

Lucy let out a long breath as she settled into her directors chair. She and Ian had all but run from the clinic to set after they were finished with her appointment. Ian had been pulled away to shoot a scene with Chad, while Lucy wasn't needed just yet.

The doctor had confirmed what they already knew. She was just about six weeks along (although in medical standards, technically she was nine weeks), and definitely pregnant with Ian's baby. Still, what had blown her mind was when the sonogram had taken place. As Annie had promised, she'd had Victoria call Lucy, and she'd managed to calm her nerves a little bit when it came to the sonogram, but not much. The idea of a transvaginal sonogram had always grossed her out and scared her, and when it had actually happened, she had been nervous as all hell. It had helped to have Ian there, but at the same time, they'd only ever had sex once.

Having so many thoughts swirling through her head as she laid on the table in a hospital gown had surprisingly helped her to feel a bit better as she watched the monitor. There had been a swelling feeling in her chest the minute she heard the heartbeat on the monitor, and tears had followed quickly. For over a week, she'd known of the tiny being growing inside of her, but a heartbeat made it real. A heartbeat meant more than just the _idea_ of what could be. And then seeing the picture come up on the screen. Even though there was almost nothing to be seen, it had meant more than she could put into words.

She stared down at the small glossy printout in her hand, and she couldn't help but feel tears burning in her eyes again. For as scared as she had felt the last few days, everything seemed to be washed away when she had been in that appointment.

"Hey, Goose!" Lucy looked up from the sonogram photo and smiled as Holly walked over. She stepped off of her chair, and welcomed the hug from Holly before it was even given. There such a mother/daughter relationship between she and Holly, and she adored it.

"How are you?" Lucy asked cheerfully as they parted. Holly settled on Ian's chair next to Lucy's as Lucy sat back down in hers.

"Great of course," Holly said just as cheerfully. "The kids are crazy. Finley broke a vase the other day, but what can you expect?"

Lucy laughed. She looked down at the sonogram in her hand again. Somehow just felt so attached to it. Holly peered over Lucy's shoulder at it.

"What's this?"

Lucy passed it to Holly. "First sonogram," she said nervously. I'm having trouble believing that that tiny little spot is going to grow into an, at _least_ five pound baby." Holly laughed and hugged Lucy again. "Oh sweetie, you're going to do just fine!"

Lucy chuckled. "You really think so? Because I feel like a nervous wreck, and I don't want to scare Ian away-" "Sweetie, you couldn't scare that boy away if you told him you had a terminal _contagious _illness," Holly said with a laugh.

"So then why does it always seem like you two are always ready to go at each other," Lucy asked curiously. She'd never actually _seen_ Ian and Holly have a serious conversation that hadn't ended in them bickering assertively.

Holly chuckled. "That's just how things are with us, sweetheart. The love is there, its just under a lot of sarcasm."

Lucy looked back down at the sonogram again. "I can't stop looking at it," she admitted. "It just feels so much more real now."

The day progressed as any typical day on set would. By the time the cast was breaking up to eat dinner, Lucy was exhausted. She laid curled up on the couch in Ian's room, weary from the day. She had been lucky so far. Her body wasn't going through any type of morning sickness, but the lack of caffeine intake was kicking her down fast. She was down to two cups in the morning, and her energy level was definitely showing the detriment of it.

Ian walked into the room and sat down next to her on the edge of the couch. He bushed her hair out of her face. "Hey. You okay?"Lucy nodded, looking up at him. "Just tired." "Well we're gonna go into turnaround in about an hour. Can you manage a scene before we do?''

Lucy pushed up on the couch and looked up at him. She nodded slowly. "I miss caffeine."

Ian kissed her forehead and then stood and offered his hands to her. Lucy took them and let him pull her up off the couch.

"In a few days, your body will settle into being without it. You'll get through it."

They walked out into the hallway and headed back towards the set they were currently filming on. It was comforting for Lucy to find herself settled once again in Ezra's apartment.

They moved swiftly through their scene and within the hour, Marlene was calling out turnaround and everyone was eagerly packing their things to head out of the building. Lucy was in less of a rush, too exhausted to rush with the same spunk that everyone else had to get out of the building. Ian waited for her, and headed out with her towards his car.

Once settled inside, Lucy pulled her shoulder belt on and then turned her head towards the window. It was pitch black outside, and with any luck, she could nap on the drive back to whosever apartment they'd be sleeping in for the night.

"Your place or mine," Ian asked as he reached for her hand. Lucy wearily slipped her fingers around his.

"Jack is at my apartment," she said wearily.

"Do you want me to go get him?" Ian asked. "I can run up and get him from Annie and then bring him back down to the car." "If you want to," Lucy muttered wearily.

Ian chuckled. He reached his hand up and caressed her cheek before taking her hand in his again. He left her to sleep while he drove one-handed, leaving the stereo to play whatever CD had last been in that morning.

The drive to Lucy's apartment was almost half an hour, but she slept the entire time. The silence was comforting, but it make him just as tired as she probably was. He was grateful when he finally pulled up outside of it, and gently pulled his fingers from Lucy's. She groaned and opened her eyes for a brief moment as she turned her head t look at him.

"What's going on?" She slurred wearily.

Ian shook his head, unclipping his seatbelt. "I'm just running up to get Jack. I'll be back down in five minutes."

"Kay," Lucy murmured. She pulled Ian's jacket, which was resting in her lap, up around her arms and nuzzled her head as she shifted a bit on the seat.

Ian get out of the car and headed inside, taking the elevator right up to Lucy's floor. He made his way down to the apartment that she shared with Annie and knocked lightly on the door. A few moments later, Annie opened the door and smiled up at him.

"Hey, Ian. What's up?" "Luce is passed out in the car. I'm just grabbing Jack, if that's alright. Could you get a bag for her with a few things?"

Annie nodded. "Jack's food and other things are in the kitchen. His crate is in Lucy's room. I'll get that for you." "Thanks," Ian said as Annie headed towards the hallway. He walked over to the kitchen and gathered Jack's food and his bowls before grabbing an empty grocery bag from the storage cupboard in the kitchen and placing the things into it. Annie walked back into the kitchen with the crate and a small duffel bag a few moments later. She handed over both.

"Thanks again," Ian said as he picked up a sleeping Jack from the floor. He placed him into the crate and then picked up the bags and headed for the door.

"Have you and Lucy figured out the whole living together thing yet," Annie asked.

Ian turned back to look at her as he reached the door. "Not just yet. Why?" Annie chuckled. "Because she spends more time sleeping at your place now than she does in her own bed. I'm kind of jealous of you, Ian. You've stolen my best friend from me." Ian chuckled softly. He knew Annie meant it in the best way possible. "She's my best friend too."

"She better be," Annie teased as she walked over to the door and opened it for Ian.

He chuckled as he walked out of the apartment with Jack and the things that he and Annie had packed. He walked to the elevator and took it back down to the main floor, and then walked out to the street. He walked to his car and opened the back passenger door and settled Jack inside in the middle and then tossed the bags up onto the seat next to him before walking around the car.

Lucy opened her eyes and looked up at him as he closed the door and looked over at her.

"Hmm?" "Just grabbed Jack," he told her. "Off to my apartment we go."

Lucy nodded and then closed her eyes again, though she stayed awake. It was another ten minutes to Ian's place. Even though it was almost eleven thirty, LA traffic was still lively. They pulled up to his place eventually though, and as Ian pulled into his parking spot inside the underground structure, Lucy reached to release her seat belt. They were both quiet as they grabbed their things, and Lucy grabbed Jack from the back seat. Ian grabbed the duffel bag Annie had made up for Lucy along with the dog food and the things he had taken with him to work before he followed her to the elevator.

It opened a few moments later, and Lucy stepped inside and settled Jack's crate on the floor. He was yapping softly, clearly as tired as they were. Eventually though, the doors opened again, and they stepped out onto Ian's floor. It was a short walk from the elevator to his door, and he fumbled with his keys as he came up in front of it. Lucy leaned against the wall as she waited for him to unlock the door.

It opened after a minute of Ian looking for the right key, and he pushed the door open farther for her to step in. He followed her inside and then walked over to the kitchen. Before he did anything else, he set out bowls for Jack and settled them on the floor. Lucy freed Jack from his crate, and he made his way to the bowls, munching on a few bites of kibble and lapping up some water before he followed Lucy on her heels towards Ian's bedroom.

Ian cleared out his things from his own bags and then headed into the bathroom and got into the shower. Even as exhausted as he was, he wanted to wash the day away and be enveloped by the heated water.

And so he stood there for a good ten minutes before washing up, and then he got out and wrapped a towel around himself before walking out of the bathroom and over to his bedroom. Lucy had turned on a nightstand table, though she was curled up on the bed with jack, dressed in a pair of silk pink striped pajama shorts and a t-shirt adorned in pink skulls.

Ian walked over to his dresser and pulled out a pair of boxers. He slipped them on and then walked out to the sitting room and made sure the front door was locked before walking back into the bedroom. He grabbed a t-shirt from his dresser and pulled it on before shutting the light off and walking around the bed. He laid down next to Lucy, slipping his arm between her arm and waist. She interlaced their fingers.

"So tired," he murmured as he nuzzled his face in the back of her neck.

"Mmm," She replied softly. "Long day. I could sleep for a week." Ian chuckled. "Isn't it funny how easily we get used to sleeping during regular hours, and then go back to work and it's all out of whack again?" "Mmm," she said again. "They're trying to drive us to early graves."

Ian sighed and placed a kiss on her collarbone. "I'm ready for vacation again already. I hope June comes fast."

Lucy giggled. "When June comes, I'll be huge."

"You won't be _huge_," Ian replied. "I think you'll be gorgeous when your baby bump comes along. Put some meat on those tiny little bones."

Lucy laughed, though they both laid there with their eyes closed. Jack curled up in the cove of her stomach. She moved her hand off of Ian's long enough to scratch Jack's head.

"You want a little brother, right Jack?" Ian murmured. Jack yapped at him and snuggled closer to Lucy, nuzzling his nose in her stomach.

"I think he has that sixth sense," she said with a chuckle as Jack's wet nose tickled her abdomen.

Ian scratched behind Jack's ear, and was quickly met with thankful licks.

"We're all just gonna be a cute little family," Lucy joked softly. "You, me, Jack, and baby Harding."

Ian smiled, but he said nothing else. There was a comfort in knowing that they were on good terms with this. Things could have gone so much worse, especially with Chris. Granted, he was still saying things here and there on twitter, but they were leaving it to the fans to chew the man out about what he was saying. As long as Ian never had to look the man in the eyes, there wouldn't be a problem.

That wasn't to say that he was a man of violence; he was actually a pacifist, through and through. He firmly believed in talking things out, but there was something about Chris' possessiveness that had scared Ian in his bones the day Lucy had told him she was dating him. It wasn't anything she had said or that anyone had for that matter. There was just something about the older man that scared Ian when he thought about _his_ Lucy being alone with Chris.

Even so, the things he'd said since finding out Lucy was pregnant made him sick. He had seen vengeful exes before, but he didn't understand how someone could say they loved a person, and then call them such cold and cruel names so soon after a break up, regardless of the situation. Ian knew for a fact that Chris had said himself that there seemed like something more than just friendship was going on between Lucy and Ian.

Resigned to not letting his anger at Chris get the best of him, he brushed the thoughts from his mind and wrapped his arms tighter around Lucy. A few minutes later, he was sleep

_-  
>Frozen like a star<br>__Don't wake me when it's over  
>- <em>

Morning came and it slapped them in the face when it did. Ian rolled over to find a fluffy face and wet tongue on his lips, which was the last thing he expected as he opened his eyes. He wiped his face off with a frustrated groan. Jack hopped down from the bed just in time to miss Ian's swat at him, and then Ian became confused. Where exactly _was_ Lucy.

He moved from the bed and walked out of the room, and the sounds of vomiting gave him an answer. He rubbed his weary eyes and checked the time. They had to be on set in two hours.

Ian pushed the bathroom door open and frowned at the sight. Lucy was knelt in front of the toilet. One hand draped across her abdomen as she wiped at the corners of her mouth with a tissue. She looked up at Ian and frowned.

"Morning sicnkess is upon us," she muttered, less than enthusiastically.

Ian frowned. "You sure it's not the flu or some other bug?"Lucy laughed. "No fever. I went to make some coffee and the smell of the grains…" She shuddered.

Ian walked into the kitchen and filled a glass of water for her before walking back to the bathroom. He helped her to her feet and handed it to her. Lucy rinsed her mouth out and then took a sip from the glass. "Thanks."Ian nodded. He looked out into the kitchen at the time on the clock. "I'll get dressed and then run down to starbucks. You want anything specific for breakfast?"Lucy shrugged. "You got bagels and cream cheese?"Ian nodded. "In the fridge. Strawberry in there, just for you."Lucy smiled at him. She leaned up and kissed him on the cheek and then walked back to his bedroom. Ian followed her and walked over to his dresser. He pulled out a t-shirt and slipped it over his head and then walked over to the closet and grabbed a running pants and slipped them on as well. He pulled down a sweatshirt and slipped it over his head and then grabbed his wallet, cell phone, and keys from the dresser and walked out of the room.

He headed out of the building and then made his way down the block. Coffee houses in LA were like churches in a small town. There was one on almost every corner.

Ten minutes later, he was standing behind a line of people, and entirely grateful that he had on a pair of sunglasses and a hoodie. There were plenty of girls headed in and out on their way to school, among other actors and people simply coming in for their morning fill of java.

Soon enough he was up at the counter, and he put in an order for a mocha latte for Lucy, and a frappaccino for himself. He was about to pull his wallet out when his cell phone buzzed in his pocket. He pulled it out and then looked up at the barista. "Can I get a dozen cake pops too? Assorted?"

The barista nodded and then punched in the rest of the order before Ian passed over a twenty dollar bill. He pulled out his phone and let it entertain him while he waited on the coffee.

He opened his twitter feed and perused over his mentions. They had gone back to the typical questions and shows of affection, although here and there, people were still finding out that he and Lucy were dating. It amazed him, when, in the recent days, twitter and the rest of the internet was covered in photos of them. The most recent photo of them had been in the midst of shooting a scene the day before. The director had called cut, and Holly had snapped a photo of them. Lucy had her face nuzzled against Ian's chin while he had his lips pressed to her temple.

His own curiosity got to him, and he went into his own feed. He didn't follow Chris, but he followed some of Lucy's friends, and he knew that they were all still watching what he was saying.

He laughed as he read Chris's most recent post.

_**ChrisZylka**_

_**Lovely how the internet has turned  
><strong>__**that relationship into gold. Makes me  
><strong>__**want to vomit.**_

_**ChrisZylka**_

_**lucyyhale teaching ur fans great things.  
><strong>__**Adultery=perfect relationship.**_

He couldn't help himself. He clicked on his own page and went back to his main feed, opening a new post. He began to type. A few moments later, he almost laughed as he heard several chimes and his name muttered throughout the coffeehouse.

_**ianmharding**_

_**I just love seeing people older than me  
><strong>__**act like children. GRADUATE ALREADY!**_

He tucked his phone into his pocket and then picked up his purchases from the counter. He carried a cup of coffee in each hand and tucked the box of cake pops into the pouch of his hoodie. He walked out of the coffeehouse and made his way back to his apartment, grateful that none of the people in the coffee house had noticed who he was.

He arrived back at the apartment building a few minutes later and made his way back up to his apartment.

When he walked inside, he couldn't help but chuckled at the sight. Lucy was settled on the floor, dressed in a pair of jeans and a sweatshirt, playing with Jack.

She looked up at him cheerfully. "Yay!"

Ian chuckled. He walked over to the counter that cut off the kitchen from the sitting room, and settled the cups of coffee on top of it. He had already taken several sips from his own. He pulled the cake pops from the pouch in his sweater and settled them on the table and then turned to Lucy.

"I'm gonna get dressed and then I'll make eggs. Are you still hungry?"Lucy giggled. "Yeah. I could go for an omelet."Ian smiled at her. "Then I'll get dressed and make us some breakfast."


	4. It's True, I Believe In You

**A/N: I swear you guys, I'm going to try and make chapters longer than this, because I'm actually disappointed in myself that they're not longer than they are, but this is what I've got for now. I've been promising this to a some people I love very much for days now, so I'm finally posting it. I hope you enjoy!**

_Chapter 4_

_Its True, I Believe In You_

Lucy huffed a breath as she smoothed her hands down over her stomach. She'd had a relatively okay morning. She had only thrown up once, but she was still feeling a bit moody, and she wasn't quite sure if it was because of the events of the night before, or if it was because she was just feeling hormonal because of her baby.

It had all started when she'd gotten a call from Chris. She seemed to be getting a lot of those lately, but he seemed determined to piss her off lately. His twitter posts about her and Ian had dwindled a bit in the last two weeks, but they were still there, and it was pissing Ian off. She couldn't really hold it against him, either, because it upset her as well. She also knew from mutual friends that Chris had been saying bad things about the both of them **and** their unborn baby.

Lucy knew that Chris's comments were irritating Ian more than just for the fact that he was saying bad things about their baby. She knew it was upsetting him that Chris thought he had the right to say things about Lucy as well, but she didn't know what to do. She didn't want Ian to actually argue with the older man, because she was afraid it would come to blows, and she didn't want that to happen.

But if that hadn't been bad enough, they were both under the stress of what to do about living arrangements. Ian wanted her to move in, while Lucy was more skeptical about the entire situation. It wasn't that she didn't love Ian or didn't want to be with him. The fact that she was carrying his baby seemed to be evidence enough of that. But at the same time, she didn't want to jump headfirst into everything. She wanted to take her time with their relationship and go slow.

However, that was a bit of an issue, because they were spending every spare minute together. Lucy couldn't lie. She loved being with him. But at the same time, most couples had that spare time away from each other that was needed occasionally, and this fight was just proof of that, because she hadn't spoken to or heard from Ian since she'd left his apartment the night before.

It wasn't the fact that she wasn't willing to think about it or discuss the situation further, she just wasn't ready to jump.

"Luce, you ready?" She turned around and saw Holly standing there. She dropped her hands to her sides and nodded, turning to look at herself in the mirror. She didn't have a baby bump yet, or at least not one that was discernable.

"Yeah. Is Ian here yet?" Holly shrugged. "I thought I saw him come in, but it seems like he's having a bad morning. I heard a lot of yelling and something about spilt _hot_ coffee."

Lucy shook her head and picked up her cup of starbucks off the table in her room. She followed Holly out of the room and walked closely behind her onto set. She was set to be filming with Holly, Chad, and Ian, but from what she could tell, Ian hadn't returned from his dressing room, and Chad wasn't even on set yet.

"Has anyone seen Ian?"

One of the directors walked past Lucy as she pulled her phone from her pocket and tapped her screen. Nope. No messages from Ian.

She sighed heavily and took a drink from her coffee.

"Lucy, can you go see if he's having issues? I know he just got covered in coffee," Marlene said as she walked around her.

Lucy sighed dramatically, but nodded anyway. It wasn't like they were going to be able to work well together the entire day if they were being pissy with each other. She tucked her phone back into her pocket and then walked across the set and headed down the hallway in the direction of Ian's dressing room.

As she approached it, her nerves started to kick in. She didn't know if he was still pissed at her, and she was slightly nervous that if he _did _start arguing with her, that they'd be airing all of their dirty laundry to the entire set. That was the last thing she wanted.

She exhaled a frustrated breath and then walked up to his door and knocked lightly before pushing the door open and popping her head in.

"Ian? You decent?" He looked up at her. He was in the process of wiping a cool cloth against a rather red spot on his chest. "Would it matter if I was? It's just you."

Lucy gave a small smirk and stepped inside the room. She closed it behind her and leaned back against it. "Are you still upset with me?"

Ian tossed the washcloth he was holding onto the table and reached down and grabbed the shirt he was supposed to wear for the day. For once, it was a simple casual shirt, which was a nice change from the usual button-down and tie.

"No," he finally said. "But we do have a lot of things that we need to figure out. I don't like not knowing where this is going?"

"What do you mean?" Lucy asked.

Ian slipped off the black sweatpants he'd come to work in and stepped into the jeans he'd been given from wardrobe. He buttoned and zipped them and then walked over to Lucy. He took the cup of coffee from her hands and settled it on the table next to them and then took both of her hands in his.

"I mean, I don't like being unsure of whether this is the same for you as it is for me. I know that this happened really fast and there's a lot of pressure on us, but I'm terrified that one day you're going to wake up and decide you don't want this anymore. And I'm afraid if we're not living together when that happens, I'm never gonna see our baby." Lucy shook her head and pulled her hands free from his. She moved her hands up and laced them around his neck. "That is **never** going to happen. There's just a lot going on right now that I'm not entirely ready for. I'd love to move in together if and _when_ the time comes and it feels right. But right now, I feel like we would be rushing into things. And I know that sounds stupid because we're together almost every minute, but that's just the thing. We're together **all **the time. We need to have a place where we can get away from each other when we're angry with each other."

"So we'll look at three bedrooms instead of two bedrooms," Ian said. Lucy sighed and dropped her hands against his shoulders, looking down at the floor.

"Look," he said, lifting her chin up to make her look at him. "I **know** it's not the perfect solution, but I'm not sure right now that looking for one is going to help us find anything. We've had a lot put on our plate and I think right now we just need to keep processing it."

Lucy nodded again. "I know. But every minute we spend 'processing', is another minute that this baby is getting bigger and becoming more real. I'm already 11 weeks along. This baby is going to be here in less than seven months. He or she already has a heartbeat."

The corners of Ian's mouth started to pull up into a smile, and Lucy couldn't help but smile as well.

"I'm just scared," she admitted. "In a few months this isn't going to be able to be a secret anymore, and there are going to be a lot of questions, and we're so busy here, and we're going to be working when he or she is born." Ian leaned his head down and pecked her on the lips. "We'll get through it. And we'll talk about everything before doing anything. I'm sorry if I made you feel pressured." Lucy shook her head, wrapping her arms around him as she nuzzled her face in his chest. "I just don't want us to fight, because it feels so right. And how can it be wrong if it feels that way?" "It's not," Ian told her. "You just over think too much and then you feel too much because you've got too many hormones running through you." Lucy laughed and inhaled a deep breath. The smell of his cologne comforted her. She tilted her head up to look at him. "Thank you. For being here, I mean. Some guys…" Ian brushed his hand against her cheek, shaking his head. "I'm not _some guys_ and I'd never do that to you. Took me almost three years just to make you mine as it is," he laughed.

_-  
>Can you imagine at all<br>__If we all could get along  
>- <em>

Lucy sunk into the comforts of Ian's bed later that night and rested her hands across her stomach. Turnaround had come at almost 2 AM, but she was too wired to get any sleep yet. She stared down at her stomach with the same curious frustration as she had that morning when she'd gotten to set. The closest thing she had to a baby bump was just the slightest rise on her abdomen, but she knew in a little more than a month, that was likely to change.

Ian walked into the room a moment later carrying several bags of fast food. Lucy had been starving when they left set, and had set him on a course of several stops to different fast food restaurants as well as Walmart because she was also craving powdered doughnuts.

"Is this what I can expect for the next eight months," he teased as she sat up. "Cause ten thousand dollar checks only go so far when you pay twelve hundred for rent."

Lucy laughed, taking one of the bags from him. She pulled out the bacon cheeseburger he'd ordered for her and pulled it out of the wrapper while Ian walked around the bed. He settled the other bags on the bed and then stripped off his shirt and kicked out of his jeans and then grabbed a pair of pajama pants from the floor and pulled them on. He pulled loose t-shirt over his head and then sat down on the bed and pulled the discarded bags further up the bed and pulled a box of fries out and began to munch on them.

They ate in relative silence, and then when Lucy felt sated, she settled the crumpled up bags on the floor and got off the bed. She slipped out of her skinny jeans and t-shirt and grabbed one of Ian's from the floor and pulled it on over her head.

She walked over to the bed and crawled back onto it and snuggled up against Ian. He chuckled and wrapped his arm around her and tilted his head down, pressing a kiss to her forehead.

"Why're you laughing at me?" Lucy asked. "You're my cuddle bug." "Oh _no,_" Ian insisted laughingly. "I am not being called a _cuddle bug, _**pookiebear.** You can call future baby Harding a cuddle bug, but not me. People will think I'm…I don't know. Snuggly soft." Lucy giggled, snuggling closer to him. "But you _are_ snuggly soft. And oh so gorgeous," she said as she trailed her fingers up his chest. Ian caught her fingers in his hand. A tight smirk formed across his face and Lucy's eyes grew wide.

"Oh god. Oh no, Ian, I'll puke on you," she said.

Too late. His hands were suddenly at her sides, squeezing in all the right places and Lucy was squirming in his arms, laughing so hard that it hurt to breathe.

"Okay okay okay!" She squealed. "I seriously am going to puke!" Ian laughed, loosening his grip on her. Lucy turned over on her back and scowled at him, though she was laughing as she did. He smiled down at her, resting up on his elbow as he stared down at her. He reached down and brushed her hair away from out of her eyes. And it was like that, that a giddy moment quickly turned serious. Lucy curled her fingers into the collar of his t-shirt and pulled him down to kiss her. She wrapped her free arm around his neck.

Ian brushed his nose against hers and looked her dead in the eyes. "I'm so in love you…"

Lucy pulled him down to her and Ian moved his hands up inside her shirt, pulling her body flush against his. Lucy moved her hands down to the hem of his shirt and began to tug on it. A few moments later, they parted as she pulled it over his head. Feeling adventurous, Lucy rolled on top of him and straddled his hips, pulling him up into a seated position. She wrapped one arm under his while her other hand dug into his hair.

Ian pushed her t-shirt up her body and Lucy leaned back from him, lifting her arms up above her head. They stared at each other for a brief moment before he pulled the shirt over her head and threw it to the floor by his own shirt.

Ian placed his hand on her cheek and then trailed it down to her collarbone, leaning forward and pressing his lips against the side of Lucy's neck. His mouth felt hot against her skin and it made her moan. She dug her fingers back into his hair, placing kisses along his collar bone.

"Oh, babe," she murmured. "I love you too, so much."

_-  
>If you can't tell<br>__I'm scared as hell  
>- <em>

Lucy awoke the next morning and groaned as she pushed the covers off of her. It was barely eight AM, but her bladder yelling at her to wake up, and her limbs were uncomfortably tangled between Ians. She tried her best to be quiet as she slowly untangled her legs from his and slipped out from under the comforting grasp of his arm before she moved off the bed and grabbed a t-shirt from the floor. She tiptoed out of the bedroom into the bathroom and then closed the door behind her and tiptoed across the cold floor to the toilet.

A few moments later, when she'd relieved her bladder, she stood and washed her hands, and then looked at herself in the mirror. She was going to get so much crap at work.

She had bite marks on the side of her neck. She hadn't really taken any time to examine Ian when she woke up, but she was sure he wasn't completely unmarked either.

She brushed her hair out of her face and then walked out of the bathroom, back into Ian's bedroom. She discarded the t-shirt once she was back under the blankets. Ian's arms wrapped around her instinctively and he nuzzled his face into the side of her neck.

"Morning," he said groggily.

"Too early," Lucy said softly. She rolled over and curled up into his chest, resting her head on his arm. Ian brushed his fingers gently up and down her back for a few minutes and then sighed heavily.

"I'm awake now," he said.

Lucy laughed sadly. "Me too."

Ian sighed, stretching his arms and yawning. He looked down at Lucy a moment later. "When's your call time?" "Two. You?"

"Same," Ian murmured. He rubbed his eyes and then looked back at her. "I'm craving coffee bad. You want anything specific for breakfast?" "I'm craving Trix," Lucy said immediately.

"Sugar-loaded cereal," Ian replied. "Sounds good."

"I have to go home and check in Jack before I go in. We should probably sleep a bit more before we're due on set too. I doubt that it's going to be a quick work day."

Ian pushed himself up into a seated position, and Lucy followed, wrapping the blankets around her naked frame.

"Work," he chuckled. "What's that? Is there an app for that?" "I wish," Lucy giggled.

They got out of bed a few moments later, and Lucy headed into the shower while Ian got coffee brewing. When Lucy was finished in the shower, Ian took her place. She walked into his room and grabbed a pair of sweatpants from her bag on his floor and pulled them on, and her 'I love Mr. Fitz' shirt before she walked back out into the kitchen. She quickly did her hair up into a loose braid and then walked over to the fridge and grabbed the milk. Her stomach coiled at the smell of coffee, and every day that she felt that way, was another day she hoped it would soon end.

She quickly poured herself a bowl of cereal and then added the milk before parking herself at the counter and began to munch on it.

Ian walked out of the bathroom a few moments later wrapped in a towel. Lucy smirked at him as he passed through the room into his bedroom and changed. He came out a few minutes later, dressed in a pair of jeans and a one of his Carnegie-Mellon sweaters. He ran a hand through his wet hair and brushed his bangs off to the side of his head and then walked over to the counter and grabbed a mug. He poured himself a mug of coffee and then took a long drink from it before leaning against the counter.

Lucy pushed her empty bowl across the counter at him and wrinkled her nose, hoping and praying that she wasn't going to be sick.

"So I was thinking that I'd talk with Annie when I go home, and then I'll pick up Jack tonight and bring him over after work if that's alright?" Lucy asked.

Ian nodded. "Of course."

He grabbed a glass from the drying rack in the sink and filled it with water and then pushed it across the counter to her. Lucy wrapped her hands around it and looked up at him.

"I really want to seriously discuss this issue of living together because I know it _is_ an issue for us, and even if it's small at the moment, it's going to get a lot bigger in the next few months." Lucy said.

Ian leaned down on the counter and settled his mug aside. He cupped both his hands around Lucy's and looked her in the eyes. "I stand by what I said yesterday. We don't have to live somewhere that we're sleeping in the same room. With our combined incomes, I'm sure we'll be able to manage something a little larger." "And what about Jack?" Lucy asked.

Ian shook his head at her. "You shouldn't even have to ask, Goose. Jack is welcome anywhere."

Lucy exhaled a sigh of relief. A conversation that could've potentially went terribly, had passed by easily. She picked up her glass of water and took a drink from it.

"All stressful conversations over for the day?" Ian asked.

Lucy nodded. "Yeah."


	5. Keep On Running Til We See The Sun

_Chapter 5_

_Keep On Running Till We See The Sun_

"That baby looks like an alien." Lucy glared at Ian and slapped her hand against his chest as she turned her attention back to her apple laptop resting on her legs. "Ian! That's what **OUR **baby looks like right now!"

Ian laughed, catching her hand as she moved to pull it back down and kissing her fingertips. "And I'm saying our baby looks like an alien."

Lucy scowled at him out of the corner of her eye and then looked back at the screen. She was officially twelve weeks along, and in the last four weeks, it had become ritualistic for her to sit down on each Monday and read about how their baby was coming along. And each and every week he would tell her that their baby looked like an alien.

"Just wait until next month," She told him. "She'll look more human."

"She?" Ian said. "What makes you think we're not having a boy? Little Ian jr." Lucy giggled. "I thought you didn't _want_ to name our child Ian Jr. And look," she said, pointing back to the screen. "Our baby has reflexes this week!" Ian narrowed his eyes at the screen. "It _also_ says that our baby is only half an ounce and is only 2 inches long. My pe-" Lucy slapped her hand over his mouth and glared at him before looking around the set. Ashley was a few feet away on her laptop while also talking to Ryan on the phone, and Tyler was also close by. Troian and Shay were shooting a scene together.

"Do you **mind**?" She asked him as she gently pulled down the lid of her laptop. "People can hear you."

Ian laughed and pulled her hand down off his mouth. His attempts at being witty always got worse, the later that they had to be at work. It was after 11 PM and they were desperately waiting to go into turnaround so that they could go home.

"FYI, by the time that baby is here, it's definitely going to be longer than the appendage you're referring to," she added.

"Really, Harding? Sex talk on set?" Holly narrowed her eyes at him as she sat down in her directors chair settled next to Lucy's.

"**Ignore** him," Lucy said as she turned around. "The man never sleeps anymore. I go to sleep and he's still awake, and I wake up in the morning and he's already up."

"Alright you three! Turnaround!"

Lucy squealed gleefully as Norman came walking across the set. She moved off her chair and began to pack up her things into her bag while Ian and Holly did the same. Once her things were packed together, she slung her bags across her shoulder and then headed down to her dressing room.

She shimmied out of her clothing as fast as possible. She'd been in jeans all day that were uncomfortable. While she didn't have a real bump yet, she was definitely gaining weight, and it was making her usual size two waist rather uncomfortable.

Once the pants and t-shirt she'd been in were off, she hung them up on the hangers that she'd been given that morning, and then stepped into her grey roots sweatpants and the sweatshirt of Ian's that she'd stolen that morning. It was a black sweater with a band name on the back. It was also new, so the lining was extremely soft.

She pulled her hair free from under the sweater and picked up her bags as well as her wardrobe and headed out of the room. She stopped at wardrobe and gave her clothing back to Mandi and then headed over to makeup and let Marsha remove her pink hair clip-ins. Ian arrived a few moments later and took her bags from her before slipping his arm around her. Their relationship was no secret to everyone on the cast, but they had yet to fully come clean about their pregnancy. Lucy knew though that soon enough she was going to have to spill.

"Ready to go home?" He asked.

Lucy nodded. She slipped her fingers between his.

_-  
>Nothing's gonna stop me anyway<br>__I'm holding on, I'm strong  
>- <em>

Lucy yawned as she awoke the next morning. She snatched the un-tucked sheet from the end of the bed and pulled it around her body as she swung her legs over the side. She and Ian both had a noon call time, but it was barely ten AM. She tiptoed out of Ian's bedroom and walked into the bathroom before pushing the door shut behind her. She let the sheet fall to the floor and then settled on the toilet.

Once she was finished she moved wash up. Her eyes drifted down to the toilet out of habit, but just that quickly the thoughts of what her day would bring washed away by the sight of blood in the toilet. Her stomach dropped and tears were in her eyes that fast.

She hit the flusher and then dashed out of the bathroom and back into the bedroom. Ian must've realized she was gone, because he starting to wake up. He looked over at her as she sat down on the bed and quickly perked up when he saw how panicked she was.

"What's wrong?" Lucy shook her head as tears began to run down her face. "I w-went to the bathroom. A-and there was b-blood, Ian."

All the colour drained from Ian's face as her words sunk in. "Are… I- Are you in pain? I mean pain is a bad thing right?" For as much as he liked to pick on her for keeping up on her reading, he'd done a fair share of his own as well.

She nodded as tears started rolling down her face. "It is. And I'm not." She wanted to add a _yet_ to that, but she refrained. Ian moved over on the bed and wrapped his arms around her. He pressed his lips to her forehead. "Just take a deep breath. It might be nothing. Call the doctor and we'll see what she says."

Lucy nodded again. She reached over and snatched her iPhone off the nightstand and brought the screen up. A message lit up the screen as she brought it up. She furrowed her brow as she read the text.

_**Chris Zylka (unlisted):  
><strong>__**I'm in LA. We need to meet and talk.  
><strong>__**Please call me when you have time.**_

She exhaled a frustrated breath and then cleared the message off her screen and pulled up her phonebook. She scrolled down through it until she found the number to her doctors office and then leaned back against Ian as she called the number. He brushed his hand over her hair. Lucy whimpered and closed her eyes as she phone began to rang.

The line clicked over a few moments later and she went through the process of being transferred and then waiting on hold before she finally got her physician's nurse on the phone. She explained the situation, and then was placed on hold again while she waited for her doctor.

"I hate this," she whispered softly as she turned her head into Ian's chest. Ian pressed his lips to her forehead and rubbed his hands up and down her biceps.

The line clicked over again and her doctor picked up.

"_Lucy?" _

"Yes," she said.

"_Faith tells me you're having some bleeding?" _

"Yeah," she murmured. "Just started this morning. I know that if its bright red or theres pain accompanied that its bad. It's-… I mean I'm not in pain, but…" _"If you're not feeling pain, then it's a good thing. Any kind of cramping, and I want you to call me, but in the meantime, I'm going to put you in for an appointment in the next few days. Think you can make that?" _

"Yes," she said firmly. Even if she had to skip work for a day, she'd do it. She'd do anything for her baby.

"_Alright, I'm going to transfer you back to the front desk. Keep calm, though, and don't hesitate to call if anything comes up sooner." _And just like that, the conversation was over. Two minutes later, she had an appointment scheduled for two days later, but she couldn't help but feel like it couldn't come fast enough. As she let her phone drop into her lap, she turned into Ian's arms and let him comfort her as she began to cry.

Everything that had happened in the last few months had been the last thing she had been ready for. But even so, she didn't want to lose Ian **or** their baby. This baby had brought them together and given them so much already. They were set to be moving into a new apartment over the coming weekend. She didn't want things to end like this.

As it was, she eventually had to get up and start her day. However, she became increasingly more irritable and gloomy as the day wore on, from the messages she continued to receive. By mid-afternoon, she had half a dozen texts from Chris, and three missed calls.

She shoved out of her directors chair as her phone rang once more and huffed. Ian reached out to grab her arm, but she glared at him, and he quickly pulled his hand back. She stormed off in the direction of her dressing room.

"What'd you do, boy wonder!" Holly said concernedly. "I've **never** seen Goose that pissed at you."

Ian shook his head and moved off his chair as well. He walked off towards the set that was Ezra's apartment but then stopped when he realized Holly wasn't following him. He turned around and shook his head at her. Taking the message, she moved off her chair and followed after him.

He waited until they were in the makeshift apartment and turned off his mic pack before sitting down on the leather couch. Holly sat down next to him.

"Luce was bleeding this morning," he explained. "The doctor doesn't seem to think there's anything wrong, and there was a heartbeat a few days ago when she had her checkup, but we're scared."

Holly nodded slowly. "You _do_ know spotting is normal, right?" Ian nodded. "I do. And so does she. But whatever she saw this morning was enough to scare her." He exhaled heavily and looked down at the floor, moving his thumb back and forth under his fingers, trying to distract himself.

"That's all?" Holly asked.

Ian shook his head. He looked up at her. "Chris keeps calling and texting her. He wants to see her." "What for?" Holly asked as her brow furrowed.

Ian shrugged. "I don't know."

_-  
>Stay away from my trigger<br>__I'm a loaded gun  
>- <em>

Lucy sunk down into a seat outside of starbucks and held her cup tightly in her hand. It was quite warm out for early May, but she was enjoying the weather nonetheless. She didn't really want to be meeting Chris, but she knew that if she didn't, that he wasn't going to leave her alone.

"_What do you want?" Her voice came out in a growl as she shoved her dressing room door shut behind her. _

"_Well hello to you too." His voice came over the line. _

"_You're the one who can't take a hint," she insisted. "__**What **__do you want?" _

"_I was calling to ask if you'd be willing to meet with me. I'm in LA for a few weeks before I go to London. We need to talk," he said. _

"_Why?" Lucy asked. _

"_We just need to speak," Chris said. "We need to discuss some things. And besides, I still have some things of yours that you left at my place." _

_She sighed heavily. "Fine. I've got Thursday afternoon off. I'll call you when I know more." _

And so she found herself sitting in a booth outside of the starbucks on Rodeo drive. She'd just come from the doctor and was waiting on some blood tests to come back. Her baby still had a heartbeat, and the sound of it had been the most comforting thing to her after two days of panicking. It had affected her so much that she had started crying. Ian had been there at her side, and though she was crying more, she had seen a few tears fall from his eyes as well. Their nerves had been on edge for two very long days, and the sound of their unborn baby's heartbeat had brought a world of relief.

They had parted at the doctors office as Ian had headed back to the set, and Lucy headed for starbucks. She had been given the day off when she'd explained the situation to her bosses. A part of her wondered if it was because they worried what kind of shape she'd be in if she had in fact miscarried, but she didn't mind having the afternoon off.

"Lucy." Her skin crawled at the way her name rolled off his tongue. It just didn't sound right. She knew that they had dated for 2 months, but the fact that Ian had so easily come between them, should've told her that their relationship wasn't as firm as she thought it was. She watched him with wary eyes as he came to sit in front of her on the other side of the table. He held a chai tea in his hands and stared at her for several long moments before smiling.

"It's good to see you."She nodded slowly. "Sure." They were quiet for a few moments before she spoke again. "So what is it that you so desperately needed to talk to me about?"

Chris stared at her for several moments before he finally opened his mouth. "I had a question. Are you absolutely sure that your baby is Ian's?"

The fact that he had the audacity to ask her that question got so deep under her skin that she wanted to punch him in the face. After all the things he had said about and to her, not to mention to her friends, she couldn't believe that he would actually think that they could share a child together. And _**if**__, _by some slim chance, she **did** end up carrying his child, there's no chance in hell she would've told him. Not after all he'd said and done.

She couldn't hold back the sarcastic laugh that slipped past her lips. She shook her head as a frustrated smile spread over her lips. She brought her coffee to her lips and took a long sip before looking back up at Chris.

"Yes. I'm **positive** my baby is Ian's. And you know, Chris, I'm not sure I would want you to be a part of this baby's life even if you **were** the father. What kind of future parent says the kind of things that you've said about me, to and about their future child's parent?" She asked.

"I was hurt." He said it like it was supposed to make everything better. But all it _really _did was make her feel sick.

"That's not good enough," she said. She pushed up from her seat and picked up her purse and coffee. "And I don't think I can be friend with someone who said the things you said about me. I used to sweep the cruel things you said about other people under the rug because I thought I loved you, but you don't say the things that **you've **said about someone you love. It's not okay."

She looked down at the ground for a brief moment and then back up at him. "We're finished, Chris. I don't want to see you. I don't want to talk to you. And if I hear from my friends that you're still saying things about me, you can bet its going to be a problem. Don't call me. Don't text me."

She didn't wait for him to answer her as she turned on her heel and walked away. As she did, her phone buzzed in her hand, playing Ian's ringtone. She slid the arrow across the screen and brought the phone to her ear.

"Hey. What's up?"

"_Nothing. I'm waiting to go into turnaround. I'll just be glad when it's the weekend and we're not split between two places anymore."_

A smile tugged across Lucy's face. "Me either. And I'm glad our baby is okay."

"_Me too."_


	6. I Trust You With My Tears

_Chapter 6_

_I Trust You With My Tears_

Lucy stared at her laptop screen wearily as she read her amazon shopping list back to herself. She was officially out of her first trimester and making some daring moves to buy a few baby items. Among them was a bassinet, a receiving blanket and a few newborn outfits. Since it was still a few weeks too early to find out the sex of the baby, she'd picked neutral colors. She also had a few other things in her cart that she was waiting until later in her pregnancy to order. Of all of the things she'd picked so far, she was most excited to order the buggy. She'd always wanted one for her dolls growing up, and she had no qualms about getting one or her unborn child.

"Ian, will you come look at this," she said as she turned to look behind her chair. About ten feet, Ian was dozing on the couch under a light blanket. They had gone hiking earlier in the morning, and Ian had gotten a bout of hay fever. He'd taken antihistamine when they had gotten back to their new apartment, but it had tired him out so he'd been resting while she shopped.

He got up off the couch and walked over to her, leaning over the chair to look at the computer screen. "What am I looking at." "Do you think this is okay?" She asked, referring to the fact that she was making baby purchases.

Ian shook his head, confused. "The color, or…what?" Lucy chuckled and shook her head, remembering that sometimes she had to be slow with him and spell things out.

"Do you think its okay to be buying these right now," she spoke in a slow manner, almost teasing. Ian stuck his tongue out at her and then looked back to the computer screen and nodded.

"I don't see why it should be a problem. It's not like you're ordering an entire catalogue of things." Lucy smiled and tilted her head up and kissed him quickly on the lips before looking back at the screen and clicking on the yellow button to start the final stages of her order. Once she had everything keyed in, she sent it through and then pulled down the lid to her laptop. She stood up and wrapped her arms around his neck, pressing her lips against Ian's. He kissed her back and tousled his fingers into her hair, pressing his body flush up against hers. They parted a moment later and Lucy made an odd face.

"What?" Ian asked.

"Starting to get a bit of a bump, I think," she murmured as she pulled away from him. She looked down at her still generally flat stomach and lifted her t-shirt up. There was just the slightest hint of a curve on her stomach. As she stared at the pale skin, it amazed her that it had been almost four months since she and Ian had changed their whole relationship. It seemed like only yesterday she was insisting to seven thousand people on a Ustream that the only reason they kissed so passionately on set was because they wanted their kisses to look real.

"Where's your head at, Lucygoose?" He asked.

Lucy shrugged, letting her shirt drop as she looked back up at him. She gave a small smile. "Just thinking about how much has changed. I never thought this would happen."

"That I'd knock you up or that we'd end up together?" Ian asked. He grabbed her hand and walked back over to the couch, her following closely behind. She sat down next to him and swung her legs up into his lap.

"I don't know. All of it, maybe?" She said honestly. "I was so set on not wanting to be that couple that meets on the set of a new show, falls in love, and screws everything up when the relationship falls apart. I knew that we had really amazing chemistry and that we were really great friends but I didn't want to lose that. I didn't want to risk losing you." "So you would've rather we'd stayed just shy of perfect?" Ian asked.

Lucy shook her head. "Not after we slept together. I told you my feelings changed after that, but sometimes…" He reached out and tilted her chin up to look at him. "Sometimes what?" Tears brimmed Lucy's eyes as she looked at him. "Sometimes I hated you because no matter who I was dating, I was always getting hate. And then I'd see fans saying you deserved the best and deserved to be happy, and it** hurt**. I still get hate messages now, except now they say that I don't deserve you."

Ian cupped his hands under her legs and pulled her closer to him and rested his hand on her knee. "That is **NOT** true. People judge what they can only see from the outside, but that doesn't mean they know anything. Just because you post things on twitter doesn't mean those people know you. Words on a screen can't tell people how generous you are, or selfless, or loving. If people are really so unfair that they'll judge you when they don't **know** you, then shame on them. You are beautiful, and giving, and smart, you **are** the best that there is for me. The fans want to say I deserve the best? Then fine. Chris was right about one thing. **You** are the best."

Lucy's bottom lip trembled and several tears fell down her face as she managed a small smile. Ian leaned forward and kissed her, rubbing his hands up and down her back.

_-  
>I've got a reason now to bury this alive<br>__Another little white lie  
>-<em>

Lucy squeezed his hand lightly as they walked into Holly's home. They had been invited on Friday to have dinner with her and her kids on Sunday. She could hear chatter from the kitchen as she pushed the door open and walked inside.

A boy came charging across the hallway and squealed at her, laughing. "Lucy! Ian!"

Lucy chuckled, leaning down to hug the younger boy. A moment later, he grabbed her free hand and led her down the hall to the spacious kitchen in Holly's home. She'd only been there twice before, but she always respected how Holly kept her house so clean and how good of a mom she was.

Holly looked up as they came through the doorway and smiled at them. "Goose! Boy Wonder! You're here!"

Lucy and Ian both waved as they walked into the room. Along with Holly, Chad was also there, as well as Holly's best friend, Shannen.

Holly settled a bowl on the table and then wiped her hands off on her jeans while Lucy and Ian removed their coats and settled them over chairs at the table. Holly turned to Shannen.

"This is Lucy, my pretend daughter," she said with a laugh. "and Ian… her inappropriate on-screen boyfriend."

Shannen chuckled as she shook hands with both Lucy and Ian. "It's good to meet you finally. I hear so much about the both of you." "Only good things I hope," Lucy giggled.

Ian shook his head, laughing. "Not possible. I'm convinced she's got a grenade stowed away somewhere with my name on it."

Holly turned to Shannen. "See what I mean? He's _impossible_ to work with! Such a diva. Rookie has no clue what he's gotten himself into."

Shannen simply laughed at them. They all settled down at the table a few minutes later, and Holly got all three of her boys settled at the table as well. She filled plates for each of them before sitting down between Chad and Shannen. Conversation ensued through the meal, and by the end of the night, Holly and Lucy were the only ones left at the table, while Ian was in the sitting room playing with the boys to keep them entertained.

"How're you two doing in the new apartment?" Holly asked as he settled a cup of tea in front of Lucy.

Lucy shrugged. "We're okay. Oh! I ordered a couple of onesies today. They're _so_ cute!"

Holly chuckled. "It's always fun when you first get to do that."

It was quiet for a few moments as Lucy played with the tea bag in her cup and Holly added cream and sugar into her coffee. She took a drink from it.

"How's Boy Wonder handling all of it?" Lucy looked across the dining room through the doorway into the sitting room. She chuckled as Finley jumped on Ian and he feigned a look of pain before pinning the boy to the ground and tickling him.

"Good, I think." Lucy said. "He hasn't said anything about feeling otherwise bothered by all of it. I think he wanted all of this more than I did in the beginning though," she said.

Holly nodded. She laughed as her youngest son jumped on Ian's back and wrapped his arms tightly around Ian's neck. Ian pulled him over his shoulders and tossed him gently onto the couch before tickling him as well.

"He's going to be a great father," she commented. "I don't think my boys have laughed that much with another man since their dad and I split up." Lucy smiled sympathetically at Holly. "Are you okay? I mean without him here to help?" Holly nodded. "We're good. They still get to see their dad. I think they just miss having a man here who gives them the attention they want. Finley misses him the most."

Lucy looked back over at Ian and silently considered herself lucky that he was desperately in love with her.

"Am I distracting your drooling abilities?" Holly teased a moment later.

Lucy blushed, turning back to look at her. "Sorry."

Holly shrugged and shook her head. "Who am I to stop you two from being enthralled with each other? Off-screen, I mean." Lucy giggled. She reached into her purse to find her chapstick and rustled things around for a few moments before finally managing to find it. She brushed it over her lips and then dropped it back into her purse, only to be distracted a moment later when music began to emit from Ian's phone at the other end of the table.

"_Don't put your lips to my mouth_

_And tell me you can't stay_

_Don't slip your hand under my shirt_

_And tell me it's okay_

_Don't say it doesn't matter_

_Cause it's gonna matter to me_

_I can't be alone with you've _

_Got me out on the edge every time you call_

_And I know it would kill me if I fall_

_I can't be alone with you…" _

Lucy raised her eyebrows curiously as she reached across the table and picked up the phone. At the same time, Holly stood and walked into the sitting room, telling her boys it was time to get ready for bed.

Ian walked into the kitchen as Lucy pulled her phone out of her purse. It was just beginning to go to voicemail for Ian's phone when she pushed the red button to end the call.

"Nice ring tone," she teased.

Ian shrugged, tucking it into his jeans. "It's been the ring tone I've had for you for a while. Still reminds me of you, so I never changed it." He sat down in the chair next to her.

"It _feels_ a little insulting," she replied.

Ian shook his head, draping his arm around her chair. "It's not intended as an insult. Granted at the time that I chose it for you, it was because I had very strong feelings for you, and I knew if I told you and you shot me down that it would hurt."

By the look on her face, he could tell that he wasn't actually helping the situation. He exhaled a sigh and grabbed her left hand in his.

"Look. I was in love with you for a _long_ time. But you were with someone else, and even though you **felt **differently after we had sex, your attitude didn't outwardly change. I knew if we went there again that I was risking getting hurt even worse. It never meant I didn't love you, though. The difference is now it's just as hard to be around you, but that has more to do with the fact that I don't want to keep my hands off of you."

Lucy let out a breath like she might laugh at Ian's last comment, but her frown was still present on her face.

Ian picked up his phone off the table and pushed a few buttons on the screen. "I was saving this for a different occasion, but do you want to know what I was going to change it to?"

Lucy looked up at his phone and then dared a glance up at him. He pushed a button on the screen.

"_Now you're my whole life_

_Now you're my whole world_

_And I just can't believe_

_The way I feel about you, girl_

_Like a river meets the sea_

_Stronger than it's ever been_

_We've come so far since that day_

_And I thought I loved you then…" _

"Do I even need to explain to you why **that **song makes me think of you?" He asked.

Lucy shook her head, looking up at him with tears glinting in the light, in her eyes. "I'm sorry. I'm stupidly emotional. I know I'm being ridiculous."

Ian kissed her forehead. "I don't care. But now you've got me curious as to what you've got for me as a ring tone."

Lucy picked up her phone and pushed several buttons on it before she found the audio file and began to play it.

"_Every long lost dream_

_Led me to where you are_

_Others who broke my heart_

_They were like northern stars_

_Pointing me on my way_

_Into your loving arms_

_This much, I know, is true_

_That God blessed the broken road_

_That led me straight to you …" _

Holly walked back into the dining room and disrupted their conversation. "That's all sweet and cute, but you've both got the same one from me."

Lucy and Ian both looked up at her curiously.

"Oh, okay," she replied, pulling her cell phone from her pocket. She pushed a few buttons and then chuckled as the song began to play.

"_I'm Elmo, and I know it_

_I'm Elmo and I know it_

_Tickle, tickle, tickle, tickle, tickle, yeah…" _

Lucy and Ian fell into a fit of laughter as Holly snapped a photo of them with her phone. A moment later, their phones chimed, and they both looked up at her curiously. Lucy grabbed her phone off the table and brought the screen up. Holly's twitter opened up.

_**H_Combs**_

_**He's enjoying this too much. **_

_**ianmharding lucyyhale**_

_**/9s03dc**_

Lucy tapped the photo link, and a picture of she and Ian popped up. Her forehead was pressed against his jaw and they were both laughing. Ian had his arm wrapped around her

"You want to talk about **him** enjoying it too much?" Lucy said with a laugh. "The fans are nuts! Every time there's a new photo, they're on it like vultures on a dead carcass."

Holly chuckled. "Your fans adore you. I'd say that's a good thing."

Lucy scratched the side of her head nervously, chuckling. "The Halers are great, and the Lucian shippers are pretty great too, but there are some vengeful people out there who have made very cruel comments."

Holly shook her head, sitting down back in her seat at the head of the table. She placed her hand over Lucy's. "You're an amazing person, Goose, and so is Rookie. If they can't see that, then screw 'em and their vicious words. They're not worth your time."

"I just don't understand why they think they have a right to judge my life," Lucy murmured. "They're not living it."

Holly let out a soft laugh at herself. "You know, this is going to sound very motherly, but in your case it's likely very true. They're probably jealous of you. Before this relationship, you had a best friend who was willing to bend over backwards for you. Now you've got him as your boyfriend, and anyone who knows you knows this relationship is the happiest you both have been in almost three years. If you've got to question why someone would be jealous of that, then I'm just a _little_ bit worried."

_-  
>You're the only one who ever stuck around for me<br>__When I was losing faith in what I thought I could be  
>-<em>

Lucy stared at her phone as Ian moved around the bed, putting clean laundry into the dresser.

"We should talk about how we're going to go public with this," she said. "We've got maybe a month before your daughter starts taking more space for rent."

Ian smiled up at her at the mention that they were having a girl. "Have you given the situation any thoughts?"

Lucy shrugged. "I know it's really daunting and blatant, but I thought maybe we'd just take to twitter and confirm it ourselves. It's not like the rumours haven't been out there since Chris' comments back at the end of March."

Ian sat down on the side of the bed. "Well, why don't we go with the idea that we pick a day, make it known that we have an announcement, and then make it at some point."

Lucy nodded nervously. "There's just one thing."

"What's that?" Ian asked.

"Our coworkers?" She said. "I mean sure, Holly and Chad know, and all of the executives, but I'm quite sure that if we don't tell the girls and at least Tyler before we go public, they're going to be pissed.""So how do you want to go about it?" Ian asked.

Lucy shrugged. "I guess I could call the girls tomorrow and find out of they want to get lunch." She raised her eyebrows as she looked back at the screen on her phone. "In other news, we're the top two trends on twitter."

"Seriously?" Ian asked, surprised.

Lucy nodded. "Lucian ustream is one, and the other is," she giggled. "Ian says Lucy is the best."

Ian chuckled. "That's what I get for tweeting that."

Lucy eyed him curiously and then went to her 'following' page and clicked on his profile. It came up a moment later.

_**claireleahy  
><strong>__**(at)ianmharding opinion of  
><strong>__**Ms. Hale today?**_

_**ianmharding  
><strong>__**(at)claireleahy (at)lucyyhale the  
><strong>__**very best everything**_

"Aww," she cooed cheerfully. She settled her phone on the bed an wrapped her arms around his neck, pressing her lips to his. "That was sweet."

Ian shrugged. "Just attempting to be the perfect boyfriend.""No attempt needed," she replied. "You already are."

_-  
>Life keeps telling me I need to go<br>__But what if I wanna stay  
>-<em>

Lucy brushed a hand through her hair as she stared at the menu in front of her. Ashley was seated next to her, and Shay was across the table from her, but they were still waiting for Troian to show up. She was incredibly nervous about telling them about the baby, but they were already questioning her to tell them.

"C'mon," Ashley badgered lightly. "We'll act surprised when Troi comes."Lucy giggled nervously, shaking her head. "You'll just have to wait."They sat in silence for a few more minutes as Lucy looked over her menu. She settled on deciding to order a fruit platter. She kept her attention on it though, refusing to pay any mind to anything else until Troian finally walked into the café and sat down in the final open chair on her right.

"Sorry," she murmured as she sat down. "Patrick and I over slept, and then I got a call from CBS. They want me to do a three episode arc this summer on NCIS."

"That's great," the three girls replied in unison. They congratulated her for a moment before quieting again. Troian studied her menu for a few moments before looking up at Lucy.

"So what are we here for?" She asked.

Lucy picked up her glass of water and took several gulps from it. When most of it was gone, she finally set it back on the table. She folded her hands over her closed menu nervously. "I wanted to tell you guys something, because Ian and I are going to be going public with it soon."

The three girls murmured back perplexed 'okay's', waiting for her to continue. Lucy took several deep breaths before speaking again.

"Ian and I are pregnant," she said finally.

She sat timidly for a few moments, waiting for whatever was to come from her cast mates. After a few minutes, Ashley was the first to speak.

"Pregnant as in newly pregnant, right?"Lucy shook her head, biting on her bottom lip. "We've known for about a month and a half."

"Why are we just finding out now?" Shay asked.

Lucy rubbed her thumbs over themselves nervously. "We didn't want it getting out before we were ready. We're **still** not-"

"We're not just anyone," Ashley replied. "I thought we were closer than that."

Lucy pressed her lips together. Her hormones were starting to get the best of her and tears filled her eyes. "We **are**. But- I…"

She shook her head. Her bottom lip began to tremble.

"Be fair," Troian chimed in, looking between Shay and Ashley. "It's not as if Patrick and I jumped on the bandwagon to tell the entire world the minute we got engaged. We put it off for a while."

Lucy looked over at Troian and mouthed a small thank you. She looked back at Ashley and Shay. A stray tear fell down her cheek. She wiped it away, frustrated. "It wasn't planned. We hooked up, and things happened. I was planning on telling you guys, I just didn't know how, and I didn't want you to find out because it was on the cover of People magazine. It was bad enough when they put that article in about Ian and I with Chris and his twitter soapbox."

"So what're you going to do?" Ashley asked. "I mean does ABC Family know? Marlene?"Lucy nodded slowly. "They're working the show around it. I think Aria's finally going to get some damage in the second half of the season." She exhaled a sigh. "I don't want you guys upset with Ian and me. We just wanted you to know. I promise we won't be secretive from now on."Troian chimed in before either of the other two girls could say anything. "We're **happy** to know, and we're here for you for anything you need. No matter what."

Lucy smiled at her. An awkward silence passed over them until she finally cleared her throat loudly. "So what's everyone else having for breakfast?"


	7. I Wear A Halo

**A/N: **There was a lot of thought and talking about this chapter, so I hope it goes over well! Also, given the announcements that **I** have been able to read as of late about PLL season 3, I'm working in what I can, because it's easier than trying to dream up some alternate (but just as wonky) world, but there **are some made up parts**. OH! And by Katelyn and Jordan, I mean Katelyn Tarver and Jordan McCoy. They were on American Juniors with Lucy.

Chapter 7

I Wear A Halo 

Lucy straightened her shirt down over her stomach, scrutinizing the now discernable bump. She had been dreading this day for almost three months, since she'd found out she was pregnant. It wasn't that she didn't love Ian or want to have their baby, but with the way it had come on so suddenly made her nervous about how much damage control their reps were going to have to do. They had made an agreement that they were going to publicly admit it via their own twitters, and then look at the offers for interviews that were sure to roll in, before choosing one. There was some talk about one or a few of the girls going on Ellen to promote season three since it was going to be starting in just under a week, and Lucy couldn't help but feel a slight hope that maybe she would be chosen. She wasn't holding her breath, though.

"Your clothes comfortable?"

She looked up to her doorway. Ian was standing there. She shrugged. "The skirt a few sizes larger, so it's alright. Its my shirt that's bugging me. Aria's not pregnant, so why something so form-fitting?"

Ian chuckled, walking over to the couch in her dressing room. He picked up the jean jacket on it and walked over to her. Lucy slipped her arms into the sleeves and pulled it around her body, looking at herself in the mirror again.

"Doesn't help much," she murmured.

Ian chuckled. "Well they're blocking for scenes in the cafeteria and at Ezra's apartment, so I'm sure they're going to be stealth about it."

Lucy giggled, rolling her eyes. "Stealth. This is what I get for offering to let you watch The OC with me."

"My name's Pippins McGee," he teased. Lucy laughed and leaned back against him, pouting at the image reflected in the mirror. She wasn't yet comfortable with the fact that she was now obviously pregnant. Ian ran his hands over her stomach. "Smile. Our daughter is just trying to get comfortable."

Lucy smiled, resting her hands over his as she tilted her head to the side. "What makes you think it's not a boy?"

"I-" Ian suddenly stopped at the sound of something clicking. Holly was standing at the doorway with her phone out.

"What's up with all these pics, mamma bear?" Ian teased. "I thought you weren't Team Lucian?"

Holly stuck her tongue out at Ian. "I'm Team Goose, Boy Wonder. Deal with it."

Lucy looked up at Holly with a pensive expression. "Send me that photo. Maybe I can do something with it today."

Holly nodded. She pushed a few buttons on her iPhone, and a moment later, Lucy's phone chimed with the alert of a new message. She picked it up off the table and saved it to her phone.

"Alright kiddos," Holly said. "We're needed in the Fitz apartment and Patrick is waiting for us. Lets go."

Lucy headed out of the room with Holly and Ian and headed towards set.

The day passed lazily with her being pulled back and forth between set. When she wasn't shooting, she was often resting in her dressing room. By mid-afternoon though, she hadn't said anything beyond her initial twitter post the night before that she and Ian would be announcing something on her newly acquired official website.

She sat down on the couch in her room and settled her laptop on the coffee table in front of her. She loaded it up and then opened her website server. She looked around, slightly confused. After a moment, she looked up at the sound of footsteps coming down the hall. She stood up and walked over to the door.

"Cody!"

He smiled at her, tucking his cell phone into his pocket. "Hey, Lucy! What's up?"

"You understand ftp and http and all that crap, right?" She asked. "I'm totally confused."

He nodded, following her back into her dressing room, over to her couch. He sat down next to her and turned her laptop around. "You logged in and everything?"

Lucy nodded. Cody clicked on a few different things and then opened up a new page. "There. You're good to go."

"And I can upload photos with this too?" She asked.

Cody nodded. "Just click this and pick your photo, and then pick your layout, and then when you're finished, post it."

"Okay," Lucy said. She looked up at him and smiled. "Thanks."

Cody nodded. His phone rang in his pocket, and he pulled it out. "I've gotta go up to set. Text me if you need help with anything else."

Lucy nodded and watched as he walked out of the room before she scooted forward on her couch. She ran a hand over her bump and pressed her lips together nervously for a moment before grabbing her laptop and pulling it into her lap. She began to type.

After about ten minutes, she read over what she had typed up and then sent it through. A moment later, she clicked on her twitter tab and began to type in the small message box.

**lucyyhale  
><strong>**Annoucement announced lucyyhalecom  
><strong>**ianmharding /3s0dsi**

She tweeted the message and then clicked on the tab where her website was loaded. She refreshed it and spotted the message just under the header. She went back to her ftp server and edited the **latest** **news** next to the photo of her that was in her header and then went back to her page again and refreshed once more. Next to her photo read **Lucy and Ian's big announcement, announced. **

She scrolled down the page and began to read the message once more that she'd typed, making sure that she hadn't made any typing errors.

_Hey guys. It's Lucy._

_There have been a lot of questions since I announced that Ian and I had an announcement to make yesterday. Truth is, I've been putting this off for a few weeks now, waiting for the right time. We've been nervous to bring this news to the fans, but we felt like now was the right time._

_As you know, Ian and I have been together for a few months now. There's been a lot that's been said from a lot of different 'sources', and Ian and I want to set the record straight._

_We're pregnant. This is big and important news for us to share with you, and we wanted to make sure it was shared at the right time. It won't be affecting my spot on PLL as Aria. As I said, though, I know there are a lot of questions, and we will have answers in the coming days._

_As always, we love you and thank you so much for the continued support._

_Xoxo, Luce_

_-_  
><em>Come morning light, you and I'll be safe and sound<em>  
><em>-<em>

Lucy looked up at Ian as she munched on a French fry. "Well, it seems like the general consensus is what we figured. People are excited and confused. And lots of questions, of course."

Ian walked over to her and handed her a glass of water before walking around the bed and sitting down next to her. Jack hopped up onto it after him and scampered over by Lucy. He rested his chin on her shin. She reached down and scratched him behind the ear and then grabbed another fry from her bag and commenced eating.

Ian picked up her phone and read the mentions she had on her feed. "I'm glad. It sure didn't take long for all those publications to jump on the demand for interviews."

He continued reading the messages as Lucy enjoyed her late-night snack. After a while, he scrolled back up to the top of the page and clicked on the new mentions. They flooded in over the next few seconds and the comments were confusing.

_**lucyyfan2  
><strong>**Can't believe he said that about  
><strong>**lucyyhale she doesn't deserve it**_

_**Siberialistening  
><strong>**lucyyhale is NOT a whore!  
><strong>**Can't believe she ever dated him!**_

Feeling angered but wanting to believe the best in people, avoided Chris's page and first opened up Alex Marshall's twitter. He read the recent messages.

_**alextmarshall  
><strong>**Headed to Huston tonight! On-stage at 7!**_

_**alextmarshall  
><strong>**Saw the news about lucyyhale  
><strong>**and ianmharding congrats  
><strong>**to them and their baby.**_

Ian bit down hard on the inside of his cheek. There was only one other person who could've said something and he wanted to kill him without even seeing what he had said. But he knew that Lucy would when she saw the messages on her phone, and so he opened the other mans page and began to read. Not surprisingly, he found another argument between Claire and Chris, among other things.

_**chriszylka  
><strong>**So the whore finally admitted  
><strong>**the bastard's existence. glad I'm not  
><strong>**Ianmharding**_

_**claireleahy  
><strong>**chriszylka you're not worthy  
><strong>**of being in his likes. Sorry we ever  
><strong>**even introduced you two.**_

_**chriszylka  
><strong>**claireleahy me too. she's  
><strong>**very clearly a whore.**_

_**claireleahy  
><strong>**chriszylka funny, you used to say  
><strong>**she was the best. you've really proved  
><strong>**just how much you don't deserve ANY  
><strong>**girl**_

_**chriszylka  
><strong>**claireleahy she's worthless, he's  
><strong>**worthless. And they're both pathetic.**_

_**claireleahy  
><strong>**chriszylka bet you'd never  
><strong>**say it to their faces.**_

Ian shook his head, wanting to throw Lucy's phone. Letting out an angered breath, he set the phone down between them and picked his up off the nightstand. He brought up his own twitter and sent through his own message. It frustrated the hell out of him that he even had to be this public with his life, and the fact that it was because of Chris that he was. He had never been so public with his life outside of Pretty Little Liars before and it irritated him to no end that he had to be because of this man.

_**ianmharding  
><strong>**claireleahy chriszylka ignore him. he's  
><strong>**not worth your time. yfrog/39sle**_

He sent the message through, and a few seconds later, received the notification that it had been retweeted by Claire. The photo was one from the previous weekend. Since Lucy wasn't going out with her friends to party anymore, they were trying to make more of an effort to make playdates during the day, and the week before, she'd made plans with Callie, Annie, and Claire to have dinner with their boyfriends at her old apartment that she'd shared with Annie. At the end of the night, Callie had snapped a photo of Lucy, Ian, Claire, Annie, and Kurt all sitting together. Lucy and Ian had been sitting in the middle of the couch with her on his lap and Claire and Annie had sat on either side of him, with Kurt sitting next to Claire. They all had their arms wrapped around each other, and Lucy had a hand on each of the girls knees to keep herself from falling over.

They all had genuinely had a good time that night, but it was to be expected. He got along well with Claire and Annie and thought they were great friends for Lucy. They were always there for her, and never judged her poorly, regardless of the choices she decided to make for her life. He knew people who weren't as fair with their friends.

"Why do you look like you want to shoot someone?" Lucy asked as she tossed her empty McDonalds bag onto into the trash.

Ian shook his head, looking up at her. "Same reason as always. Don't worry about it."

Lucy moved to grab her phone, but Ian stopped her. "Why? What'd he say now?"

Ian shook his head at her. "Its nothing you need to worry yourself with right now. It was very mean and in my opinion, he should be ashamed of himself for saying things so cruel."

Lucy stared him down for a few minutes, genuinely curious about what he'd said. She had seen Alex's twitter post earlier in the day when one of her friends had texted her about it, but this was Chris they were talking about. She'd thought that after their conversation that things were said and done once and for all.

"Fine," she said after a few minutes. She grabbed her phone and set it on the nightstand and then grabbed her laptop from the floor and opened her facebook while Ian got up and changed into different clothes.

As expected, there were posts on her wall from friends she hadn't worked with in a while congratulating her on the pregnancy and asking how and when she'd found out and other questions of the like. She replied to messages from Katelyn and Jordan privately to keep it off her wall and then went back to it and began to type with a link to her website.

_Lucy Hale: yes, it's true that Ian and I are having a baby.  
><em>_I've done everything I can to keep it away from the public,  
><em>_But there's a few interviews coming up later this week and  
><em>_I'll explain everything after that. Love all of you!_

She sent it through and then clicked on the little blue envelope at the top of her page and began to scroll through the messages. After a few moments she stopped and paused. There was a personal message from Alex. While she had appreciated the public congratulations, she hadn't spoken to him in almost a year, since their breakup, and they certainly hadn't had any contact since then, except through fans mentions of them through twitter.

Nervously, she clicked on the message and began to read.

_Hey Luce_

_I thought about this for a few hours before sending it, because I wasn't sure you'd want to hear from me or if you'd even bother to read this. I guess it's good if you're still reading at this point. I know we haven't spoken in a long time, but I just wanted to check in and congratulate you and Ian. I heard about you two officially being together a few weeks back and meant to send you a tweet about it, but I kept putting it off. _

_I'm glad to hear you're happy especially after what I've seen from that guy you were dating earlier this year. I'll keep my thoughts to myself about what I really think of him, but I'm won't say I'm not glad that you're no longer together. Especially after the things he said today… _

_Anyhow, just wanted to let you know I'm happy for you. Hope to hear from you soon, even if just to hear how you're doing. I'm sure that baby will be gorgeous like his or her mother when they're born!_

_-Alex_

She stared at her screen for a few minutes after she'd finished reading the message the first time, and reread it to herself, making sure she'd read it correctly. When she was sure she had, she stared at her computer screen, unsure of what to do. Their relationship hadn't ended on the best of terms, and it had hurt when she and Alex had broken up. Even so, she knew that being in a real honest relationship with Ian meant not being hung up on the things that past boyfriends had done to her, and for as bad as she'd felt when she broke up with Alex, she knew that Chris had done worse.

She placed her fingers on the keys and began to type.

_Alex, _

_First off, thank you for being more gracious about the news. I'll admit, there have been some ill replies to the news, but that's to be expected, I suppose. I would agree with you though, that Chris's actions haven't been stellar. To go into detail more than that just isn't worth the time at the moment. _

_I suppose it would be nice to meet for coffee or something when you get back to LA. We're going onto hiatus in just a few weeks and then I'll be headed to Tenn. for a visit with my family, and then off to Virginia to spend some time with the Harding's. Maybe July? _

_Still great to hear from you. Hope you're doing well, Alex! Write back and tell me how you're doing. :]_

_Lucy_

_-  
>Am I a lovesick fool or am I giving up<br>-_

Ian stared down at the script on the table in front of him, grateful to have gotten away from set for the afternoon. He'd had an early call time and then been allowed to leave early, though that had been more driven by the fact that he'd been called in for a meeting with his representative. Even so, with such a warm day and little for him to do, he was happy to get away for a while.

A knock at the door brought him out of his thought process, and he dropped his pen into his script before walking over to the door. He opened it without bothering to ask who was standing outside, and immediately wanted to slam the door shut.

"What do you want?" He asked angrily.

Chris stood in front of him with his arms crossed in front of him. "Is Lucy here?"

"No," Ian sneered. "She's not. And I doubt she'd want to speak to you even if she was. So leave."

Chris stared him down, narrowing his eyes at Ian as Ian gave him an icy glare.

"I have no idea what she sees in you," Chris spat. "There's certainly nothing appealing to the eye about you. You're probably a pussy, too."

Ian rolled his eyes at the comment. "I'm closing the door now."

Chris put his hand on the door as Ian was pushing it shut. Ian huffed, opening it back up. "You **don't**want to say one more word to me, because I promise you'll become well acquainted with my fist."

"I just gotta know," Chris said. "How drunk did you have to get her to get her to fuck you? I mean I know she's a whore, but I really want to know what it took? Really, how pathetic do you have to be to get into bed with another man's girl?"

"Goodbye, Chris."

"One day that kid is gonna have to hear how much of a slut **it's** mother is, and what a lowlife it's father is."

He couldn't take the words anymore, and before he really managed to even get a grasp on what he was doing, his knees hit the floor as he drilled his fist into Chris' face. He wanted to kill the man and make him pay for all the cruel things he'd said, but it took everything in him to stop after only a few punches, leaving the older man with a bloody face and a black eye.

"Now get the hell out of here," Ian growled as he shoved the door shut.

_-  
>Who put that rock in your chest, won't you tell me<br>-_

Lucy stared down at Ian's scabbed hand, gently rubbing Neosporin onto the self-inflicted injuries. The fact that he had hurt himself had been an after-thought when he'd hit Chris several days earlier. Telling Lucy had been even worse, because he'd known that when he told her she was going to be upset. Even so, he'd explained to her that he'd let his emotions get the best of him for once.

"I still can't believe you hit him and then went to that interview with me with your hand all bandaged up." Lucy said.

Ian shrugged, watching as she wrapped his hand lightly to keep the wounds clean. They kept cracking every time he curled his fist, so he was hoping some antibiotic ointment would help the healing process along.

"I wanted to kill him, Luce. I wanted to hurt him for the things he was saying, and it took everything in me to not keep going. And if we're talking about surprises, I'm a little surprised that the little son of a-"

"Language," she scolded lightly.

Ian rolled his eyes and chuckled. "_Little evil boy _hasn't taken to his twitter and made it seem like he's the victim."

"Why would he?" She asked. "That would mean admitting that he provoked you. And anyway, I don't want to talk about this anymore. I've got the advance copy for this week's People and the cut from the Ellen interview yesterday, and you said you wanted to see them."

"I do," Ian said.

"Great."

Lucy got up and walked across the room. She grabbed her iPad from where she'd left it on the dining table and then walked back over to the couch and sat down next to him. She opened up the video first.

"_Today I've got with me one of the girls from Pretty Little Liars. You might know a little something about her from her role in Sorority Wars, and she's done various guest spots on other shows, but this one is centered all around her character. We met a few months back at the People's Choice Awards, ladies and gentlemen, Lucy Hale!"_

They watched attentively as Lucy walked out from backstage. She was dressed in a pair of skinny jeans and a t-shirt that the set had dressed her in before she'd left work. It was a long t-shirt that fell past her bum, but showed her bump prominently.

Courtesies were exchanged as she walked over to Ellen and then they sat down and began to discuss the show.

"_So you guys are coming back for your third season and things have been shaken up a bit. Tell us a little about that," Ellen said. _

"_Yeah," Lucy nodded. "It's six months later, and all the girls are dealing with the fallout from finding out who A was. They've all got PTSD, and they're just coming back from different places they spent on summer vacation."_

_Ellen nodded as well. "And I've heard some talk that your character carries a heavy burden at the beginning of this season as well."_

"_Yeah!" Lucy said excitedly. "One of our executive producers, Marlene, came to me right after the season started and sat Ian and I down and told us that there was a major story line they wanted to give Aria, because all of the other girls have really had their moment at this point, with Spencer and her fire, and Emily with the- it was drugs in ointment or something? And Hanna got hit by A in the car, and they sat us down and just asked if we were up for this twist and how we would feel about it and we decided to go forward with it. It's been so amazing being offered such a major project."_

_"Is there anything you can tell us about it?" Ellen asked._

_Lucy chewed on her bottom lip for a moment. "The best I can say is its something that was shifted from one character to another. Take that in whatever context you want to," she giggled. "But that's all I can say until it happens."_

_Ellen nodded, looking down at her note cards. "Your characters have certainly suffered their fair share of bullying, but you guys have come up with a really clever of making it clear that it's **not **okay."_

_Lucy nodded again. "Yeah, I loved that about the show, because this is a really cruel way of not only bullying but stalking and just hurting these girls, and ABC family has really gotten out there on a limb quite a bit lately."_

_"And you suffered with bullying quite a bit lately too," Ellen added._

_Lucy nodded. Her tone shifted somewhat. "There was a lot of stuff being said when I was with my ex, not only about him but about me, and it was really tough reading that, because it's someone behind a computer screen or an a phone, and what can you really do, other than delete it or refuse to read it? And even then its tough. I was getting phone calls from Ian and my other cast mates and even my best friends saying, 'hey, have you seen this' or 'have you head about this'? And it was tough then, but in some ways it's gotten even worse because it's coming from someone I knew and was close with. I just try to remind myself though that there's only so much you can do, and letting yourself get pulled down by it is letting them win, and the best thing you can do is not let that happen."_

The interview continued on for a few more minutes before it finally ended. Lucy closed it and opened up the PDF she'd gotten from work with the mock-up layout and article that People was going to be printing. They had even gotten the front cover.

She loaded it up and clicked on the cover page bringing it up. It was a photo of Holly had taken of them in the first season. Ian was standing behind her with her arms wrapped around her, holding her hands. The headline read _**Liars **_**with child. **

She flipped past the headline page and the article came along next. A full page photo of the two of them showed them in Ezra Fitz's apartment. Lucy was in a patterned blue and yellow top and Ian was in a grey shirt. They had their arms wrapped around each other, with his hand resting on her elbow while hers was on his ribs. They were both smiling to the camera. On the top of the page read:

_**And A Baby Makes Three!**_

_**Lucy Hale and Ian Harding open up about their off-screen romance and the baby that brought them together. **_

The article started on the opposite page and continued on for two more.

_People sat down with Lucy and Ian in one of our studios and talked with us about how their relationship has been going, the baby that they're having, and what the future is bringing for them. _

_**People: **You've had quite the day already, I've heard? _

_**Lucy Hale: **I don't know about him. I was running a lot. That's not easy when you're pregnant. _

_**Ian Harding: **It was pretty lazy until I had that scuffle with the knife and lunch. _

_**People: **So you two are going on about three months together publicly?_

_**LH: **Soon. I think the biggest thing that, well… [looks to Harding]_

_**IH: **Yeah, I- People certainly are going to look at us a little funny because we were pregnant before we were public, but things happened a little suddenly, and y'know… you do what you can._

_**People: **So that twitter break up with Chris Zylka was staged? _

_**LH: **Yeah. When I first found out I was pregnant I actually had no clue what we were going to do and all I could thing was 'oh my god, we're going to get fired, we're in so much trouble!' And then I talked to Ian and our producers, and they were just like 'no no, you're not being fired. We're a little frustrated and we need to rethink this season, but we're not mad.' _

_**IH: **[wipes brow and laughs] Dodged a bullet there. _

_**People: **So what really changed things? _

_**LH: **You know, we had really strong feelings for each other for a long time, but we avoided getting together on, well, really just trying to be ethical and not cause drama in the workplace. And then when we did, there was some talk with my agent about Chris, who was a friend of a friend, and how if we dated, it could help generate some publicity for him and his career. I was clear with telling them that I was with Ian they asked if we'd be willing to change things up to make it 'look' like we were dating. _

_**People: **And how did that go? _

_**LH:** Really well, I think. I mean, we got along really well and we were friends, but when it came time to 'break up' because I couldn't stay with him and be pregnant with Ian's baby; it didn't go over well. His twitter has… _

_**IH: **He hasn't been great about handling things. _

_**People: **So your baby has really brought you two together, then. _

_**IH: **Yeah. We were really estranged sometimes in the- I don't want to say odd, but it was weird. Like we were there for each other and loved each other but there was this…_

_**LH: **distance. _

_**IH: **Yeah. And the baby changed that. I don't know what it was, but he or she helped bring us together and regroup, which was great. We're better than ever, and as corny as it's going to sound, I think Aria and Ezra are all the better for it. _

Ian passed her iPad back to her once he was finished reading and nodded. "Good to see they didn't chew up what we said and spit it back in some other context."

"And they're actually printing the lies. Should make for some interesting comments in the next few weeks though," Lucy replied.

Ian shrugged and rolled his eyes. "Who cares what anyone says. It's no one's business but ours and our families."


	8. If It's Just Temporary Bliss

**A/N: **I know very little about Lucy and Alex's relationship, so forgive me if you're don't like him or The Cab. I love both. Oh, and Cady Groves' involvement in this story is entirely fictional, although its apparently now possible that she's dating Alex DeLeon (lead singer of The Cab)...either way, just glad to know she hangs out with those boys! LOVE THEM!

_Chapter 8_

_If It's Just Temporary Bliss_

"_tell me what's the point of doing this every night  
><em>_What you're giving me is nothing but a hollow soul lullaby  
><em>_When you kill my dreams  
><em>_Oh, this is the last time, baby make up your mind…"_

"I thought you hated that song," Ian said as he pulled the clasp shut on his watch. Lucy was seated at the kitchen table, scribbling out a list while her iPhone played The Cab nearby.

"I do," she said. She looked up a moment later, tapping the pen on her bottom lip as she tried to figure if she had figured out everything correctly for her shopping list. The apartment was getting dangerously low on food, and she and Ian had been working ridiculous schedules for the past ten days, which hadn't left either of them time to pick up any food. "Or at least, I did."

"Still on pleasant terms with Alex then, I suppose?" Ian asked as he walked over to her. He peered at the list over her shoulder and then pointed to the dairy group. "Milk. The stuff we have went bad," he shook his head, disgusted. "Weeks ago. I don't know how it was still in there. Oh, and kraft cheese."

"Yuck," Lucy muttered, adding both items to the list.

"Sorry," Ian said in a lightly teasing voice. "I like _cheese_burgers. You're the oddball here, love. And am I wrong, or did you actually like that bacon cheeseburger you stole half of last night?"

Lucy rolled her eyes. "Your baby is blackballing me on food. Apparently she likes cheese. That doesn't mean I have to once this is all said and done." She reached over and turned down the music on her phone. "And yes, we are. It's only by e-mail, but he's…well he's a lot more cordial than Chris is."

Ian nodded, sitting down in the chair next to hers. He grabbed one of his converse hightops from the floor and shoved his foot into it before resting his heel on the chair and pulling the laces. "The song?"

Lucy rolled her eyes at him, looking back at her list. It was nearly two pages long, but she'd also added other necessities to the list. "When I got past the fact that it was about me, it doesn't totally suck."

"It's about you?" Ian asked.

Lucy shrugged. "To some degree, a couple of them are. And when he and I started falling apart, you and I were spending a lot of time together. I guess he got it in his head that we were together again."

Ian nodded, pulling his other shoe on and tying it. "We did come pretty close last year."

Lucy smiled up at him and reached across the table, squeezing his hand lightly. Their close call was a drunken kiss after a cast dinner for Ian's birthday, during which their regular repartee had been laced with shameless flirting. Lucy hadn't entirely been over Alex at that point though, and had quickly pulled a halt to anything that could've happened the next morning when she told him that she shouldn't have kissed him.

"Yeah, and I shouldn't have ever said that it was wrong," Lucy said.

"Luce-"

"No," she said dismissively. "I said it because I was wasn't ready, but that didn't make it true. The reality of it was that I was too afraid to let myself be aware of what was between us. It was always so much easier to drum it up to great chemistry for Ezra and Aria, even when it wasn't true."

Ian nodded. He smiled a bit. "I remember when you made that comment about us kissing during the ustream, and how you should kiss someone like you'd kiss them in real life. It made me feel cheated, because it seemed like it was all the work and none of the feeling."

"It wasn't fair," Lucy replied. "I don't know what I was so afraid of. I don't think I really realized that I was, either, until we had sex, and I just wanted to forget it like the kiss."

Her phone chimed on the table. She reached over and grabbed it and cleared the screen before standing up. "I'm gonna change so we can go get some food."

Ian nodded. Once she'd left the room, he looked over the shopping list, making sure she'd gotten everything written down that they needed before he turned her laptop around and looked at the shopping cart she'd put together that morning on amazon. He enjoyed seeing her through this pregnancy more because of her eagerness than anything else. It seemed like each week, her excitement for the baby grew. For a few weeks after she'd told him that she was pregnant, he'd worried that she would see the baby as a bad thing that had pressured her into something, but she hadn't shown any emotion of the sort.

Curiosity peaked in him, and he clicked on the facebook tab. She was still logged in. He clicked on her messages, and then clicked on the thread with Alex. He skimmed over them and then stopped when he reached the bottom message.

_I'll be in LA for three days this weekend. If you're up for it we should meet for… well you probably aren't drinking much coffee right now, eh? Maybe a smoothie? Send me a text and let me know! It's good talking to you again, Luce. _

"If you wanted to know what he said, all you had to do was ask."

Ian looked over his shoulder. Lucy was hooking an earring in her ear.

"I-"

"I don't care that you were doing it," she said. "I have nothing to hide. I'd never get back together with him." She walked over to him and sat down in Ian's lap. "Didn't you hear the lyrics? _I'm only your one and lonely only when you're lonely?_ _Baby why you calling me?_ Alex and I are on good terms. **As friends.**"

"And you're sure he's clear on that too?" Ian asked. "Because it's not you I don't trust. After everything Chris has done lately-"

Lucy nodded, running her hand down the back of his head. "I'm positive. Last I checked, he was dating some new up and comer named Cady Groves."

Ian nodded, but it was clear her name didn't register for him. Lucy chuckled. "She's the girl who sings Murder. 'Every girl is capable of murder if you hurt her'?"

"Oh that song," Ian replied.

"So do you talk to Sophia at all?" Lucy asked curiously.

Ian shook his head. "Not in almost six months, except for the occasional message from a friend of a friend saying she said hi or asked how I was doing."

_-  
>I can't keep sleeping your bed<br>__If you keep messing with my head  
>-<em>

Lucy sipped from her smoothie, chewing lightly on her straw. Something felt odd today, but she hadn't quite been able to place it just yet. In the midst of it all, she was doing her best to keep distracted by keeping her attention on Ian. They'd spent nearly two hours at the store that morning shopping, and then picking out colors for the baby's room. They were still trying to be smart and not plan too far ahead, but she wanted to get the painting done before she was too far along, and given that they would be spending time with their families after their mid-season break came, she wanted to get the painting done before they left.

She'd also been in talks with music labels. She had promised her fans that this was the year she was going to put some of the focus back into her music career and she intended to make good on her. It floored her sometimes that she still had fans from almost a decade earlier. Still, nothing was set in stone, but she wanted to be able to devote her short vacation from Pretty Little Liars to that before she got too far along in her pregnancy, or more, gave birth, and didn't have the time to talk with label representatives.

Ian ran a hand down her back and she moaned softly in response. She might've only put on a few pounds since the beginning of her pregnancy, but the little bit of weight was doing a number on her ankles and lower back anyway.

"Lucy!"

She looked up in the direction of the voice that had called her name. Alex was walking up with his new girlfriend. She waved, yawning.

Alex and Cady walked up and sat down across the table from Ian and Lucy. Pleasantries were exchanged.

"It's so pretty out today," Lucy murmured, widening her eyes for a moment. The exhaustion that came with pregnancy had started creeping up on her. It seemed that the closer she got to hiatus with Pretty Little Liars, the more her body decided it wanted to sleep.

"LA heat," Alex said with a nod. "The only city where it rains more on a TV set than in the city."

Lucy chuckled, taking a drink from her smoothie. "Are you guys back in the studio yet?"

"Not yet," Alex replied. "We're on the road for a bit more. They're pushing La La on the radio right now, so… What about you? Did you meet with any label heads yet? I saw you said on twitter something about music?"

"Yeah, no," Lucy said with a slight frown. "I'm doing what I can, but it's taking time. Mostly just writing a lot of lyrics at the moment. We'll see what happens though."

"Anything that I should be afraid of?" Alex teased. "I'm certainly cautious about what I say with this one," he said, tipping his head teasingly towards Cady.

"I tell the truth with my lyrics," she said unabashedly.

"Exactly!" Lucy said cheerfully. "And you mean something like Temporary Bliss? No. But I did bring something along I wanted you to take a look at. I'm kind of taking shots in the dark right now, trying to write _anything_."

"Sure," Alex nodded. Lucy grabbed a small notebook from her bag and pulled it out, flipping the book open to the page she wanted an opinion on, and then handed it over. It was silent for a few moments as he read, and then asked if Cady could as well since she wrote her own lyrics too. After a few moments, he returned the notebook to Lucy.

"Does it seem good?" She asked.

"It does," Alex said. Cady nodded.

"He doesn't know originality if it doesn't involve a repeating chorus, but I think it's great. It'd be great to collaborate sometime if you're up for it."

Lucy nodded, smiling

The rest of the afternoon passed gracefully. After a little while longer of feeling awkward, the foursome split up and Lucy headed back to the apartment with Ian. Upon arrival, she walked over to the large chaise longue in their sitting room and curled up on it. Ian joined her, and she curled up against him.

"Sorry if that meeting made you feel awkward today," she said quietly.

"Not really awkward," Ian said. "More out of place."

Lucy tilted her head up to look at him. "I would've showed you what I was working on, but its _for_ you, and I needed a musicians view on it. But it's good to know that I don't have any bad blood with at least _one_of my exes."

Ian chuckled, rubbing his hand gently up and down her back. "Just put Chris out of your mind. He's gone to London now anyway, hasn't he?"

"For now," Lucy murmured. "Hopefully he stays away when he comes back to the states."

"Well with any luck, we'll be on hiatus and out of LA when he turns up," Ian said with a hopeful tint.

Lucy sighed, nodding. "I can't wait to go on break in two weeks. I swear, every day my body pushes me just a little bit more; 'take a nap, Lucy. You know it's what you want to do'."

Ian chuckled, brushing his lips against her forehead. "So take a nap. I'm not going anywhere."

_-  
>Say I should leave, you're over me<br>__Say something, say anything  
>-<em>

Lucy yawned as she took a sip from her non-caffeinated iced latte and rubbed her eyes as she settled the cup next to her in her chair. Ian was shooting a scene with Holly – one of their first in weeks. She was set to be filming with all three of the girls later in the evening, but at the moment, she was extremely bored.

Her phone buzzed next to her, and her gaze dropped to her phone. She picked it up and tapped the screen.

_Alex: _

_On the back lot shooting a music video.  
><em>_Lunch?_

She looked up at Ian and Holly, who were still shooting the scene. It was the one thing that she disliked about her job. The days when you had to shoot the same scene fifty times so that they could have a dozen different options when it went to editing.

The director called cut, and Ian crossed the room, stepping out of from in front of the cameras.

"Are you taking a break?" She asked.

Ian shook his head. "Not for any longer than to use the bathroom and get a drink." He picked his phone up off his chair and checked to make sure he hadn't missed any messages, and saw the time. "Get lunch without me."

"You sure?" She asked. "Alex texted and asked if I'd meet him."

Ian nodded. He leaned over and kissed her chastely. "Have a cheeseburger for me."

Lucy narrowed her eyes at him. "Ha. Ha."

She hopped down off her chair and grabbed her bag before kissing him quickly and then heading out of the building. She made her way across the parking lot, which they often used in the past as the parking lot for Rosewood High School. She spotted Alex heading towards her a few moments later.

She waved to him, and he reached her a little over a minute later carrying two white paper bags.

"I got you two enchiladas," he told her as they made their way across the parking lot. They settled on a bench on what was supposed to be the outside of the high school, and Alex handed over a bag. Lucy pulled out one of the enchiladas and opened it up. She took a bite out of it and smiled as the flavour of chicken filled her mouth.

"So how's it going with the liars?" He asked.

Lucy chuckled, shrugging. "I'm not doing anything right now, other than sitting in a chair and wishing for something to do. You kind of saved me from losing my mind."

He nodded. "I read something last night on…what was it? The Hollywood Reporter?"

Lucy grinned and he smiled.

"So it's true then. Hollywood Records?"

She nodded happily, pulling a piece of tortilla off her enchilada and popping it in her mouth. She chewed and swallowed before answering. "It's been in talks for a few weeks, but I wanted to be sure it was going to happen. And anyway, it's not going to be out for like a year."

"Still," Alex said cheerfully. "That's huge!"

Lucy smiled, owning her happiness. They ate in silence for a few moments before she looked back up at him. "Can I ask you something?"

He nodded. "Sure. Anything."

Lucy wiped her hands off with a napkin and rolled up the wrapper to the first enchilada and then reached into the bag and grabbed the second. "When we broke up… did you cheat because of Ian?"

Alex's expression shifted quickly, showing his surprise at her question. It wasn't necessarily that he had a problem answering it, but more that, if she was truly happy with Ian, then why ask him about his prior relationship choices.

"Does it really matter?" He replied.

Lucy shrugged, pulling tortilla off her second enchilada. "I don't know. I guess it's just that now, sometimes when I think back to how things were with us, and how things were with Chris…I wonder."

Alex nodded as soon as Chris' name passed her lips and he quickly understood why she was truly asking. "Well I can't speak for the child," he replied. "But for me…I guess part of it was. I mean you could say things until you were blue in the face about what would or wouldn't happen with you and Ian, but it was different when you were the boyfriend, watching from the outside."

He took a deep breath and picked up his drink taking a long sip from it. "To be honest with you though, I could see that something was going to happen there. Whether it happened after two days or two years. I jumped the gun because I figured if someone was going to get hurt, I wanted it to be you and not me. I ended up hurt in the end anyway."

Lucy nodded, understanding what he was telling her. She stared at the ground for a few moments before she looked up at him. "But you're happy now, right?"

Alex nodded, and a smile was once again on his face. "Yeah. I'm happy."

When they finished with lunch, Lucy headed back into the building and he headed back to the lot that he had been at with his band. She was grateful back to be in the cool air instead of out in the summer heat.

Ian was sitting in his chair when she made it back, playing a heated game of tetris.

"Want my leftovers?" She asked as she sat down next to him.

Ian forfeited his game and looked up at her. "No thank you. How was lunch?"

Lucy shrugged. "It was good. He answered a question only he could answer."

Ian nodded. "And what was that?"

"If he cheated because of you," she replied honestly.

"Ouch," Ian replied. He could tell by her expression what the answer had been.

Lucy let out a deep breath, looking over at him. "I guess I was ignorant to how many people I was hurting when I wasn't seeing it. A part of me wishes I'd known that this would happen then. Maybe I wouldn't have hurt so many people then."

Ian shook his head. "Don't look at it that way. You should be allowed to enjoy this time, regardless of how you got here. You might've been wrong for hurting Chris, but he's gotten you back tenfold for that. You have no reason to feel bad about what happened."

"You really think so?" She asked.

Ian leaned over in his chair and pecked her on the lips. He brushed his hand down the back of her head and smiled at her. "Baby, I know so."

The rest of the afternoon passed easily, and by the time they were driving home, they were both exhausted.

Lucy stared down at the face book IM she had open on her phone and read the conversation she'd been having since getting in the car.

**Lucygoose:  
><strong>**Okay, officially out  
><strong>**What's up?**

**Alex Marshall:  
><strong>**I was curious of something,  
><strong>**If you don't mind me asking.**

**Lucygoose:  
><strong>**Not at all. Go ahead.**

**Alex Marshall:  
><strong>**What the child posted on twitter  
><strong>**back in January…Was it true?  
><strong>**Did you cheat on him?**

**Lucygoose:  
><strong>***deep breath***

**Alex Marshall:  
><strong>**I'm not judging you either way,  
><strong>**but…idk. I'm curious.**

**Lucygoose:  
><strong>**Yes.  
><strong>**It wasn't planned, and I wasn't  
><strong>**trying to be malicious, but it  
><strong>**happened.  
><strong>**I never expected he'd react  
><strong>**the way he did.**

**Alex Marshall:  
><strong>**Refer to above comment  
><strong>**about him being a child :P**

**Lucygoose:  
><strong>**lol :/)**

**Alex Marshall:  
><strong>**You're pretty great, Luce.  
><strong>**I'm sorry we ever stopped  
><strong>**being friends.**

Ian looked over at her as she tapped back a similar reply.

"Cheatin' on me over there?" He teased.

Lucy rolled her eyes and chuckled. "Nope." She looked up at him as she closed out the app on her phone and grabbed his hand. "I'm just realizing how grateful we should be that we have Alex as an ally. And that Sophia hasn't said anything about us."

Ian nodded. "We are pretty lucky that way."

"But you know what I want to be lucky about now?" Lucy asked.

"_Getting_ lucky?" Ian asked, raising an eyebrow suggestively at her.

She giggled and shook her head. "SLEEP!"

"Oh," he replied slightly defeated. "Well, that's pretty great too."

Lucy chuckled and then stared at him for a moment, making a decision. She released his hand a moment later and reached across his lap, placing her hand high on his thigh as he pulled up to a red light. She leaned over in her seat and brushed her lips up against his ear.

"And maybe you'll get a little lucky too." She moved her hand up closer to his manhood and brushed her hand lightly over the zipper of his jeans before settling back into her seat. Ian shuddered.

It was going to be a long night.


	9. The LeftMeWantingMore Feeling When He

**A/N: **To be honest, when I came up with the idea for what happens in this chapter, I hadn't yet finished reading the rest of In These Arms. As it is, I've only skimmed ITA so far so I could save it/read it later on my e-reader. I certainly hope this comes across differently.

**Disclaimer**: Obviously I down own Lucy, Ian, or anything of that sort. But I DO own Burn Up Brighter, the lyrics used later in the chapter. They're purposely modified in the beginning.

_Chapter 9_

_The Left-Me-Wanting-More Feeling When _

_He Kissed Me_

Lucy lifted her head up off the couch and yawned as the sun burned brightly into her eyes. She had to take a moment to recall her thoughts before she remembered why she wasn't in her own bedroom, let alone her own living room.

She rubbed her hand over her bump and let out a soft sigh as she sat up on the couch. She and Ian had arrived in Tennessee earlier that morning, and had quickly fallen asleep after dragging all their bags in from the cab. He had opted to take the floor next to her after finding that the chair next to the end of the couch wasn't all that comfortable.

She moved off the couch at the sound of chatter and headed for the kitchen, only to be deterred by her apparently shrinking bladder. It seemed that the more baby Hale-Harding grew, the more her ability to retain liquids lessened.

She stepped into the bathroom and quickly relieved her bladder before washing her hands and looking up at herself in the mirror. Her hair was a bit messy, but she looked alright otherwise. She snatched her mom's hairbrush from the counter and ran it through her hair before heading out of the room and down the hall. Her stomach grumbled, and she rubbed a hand over her swollen belly.

"Hey, sweetie!"

Her mother's cheerful tone was just a little too high for Lucy's still-waking brain, but she smiled nonetheless as she walked over to where Ian was seated at the kitchen table. He smiled at her and pulled out the seat next to his. She sat down next to him and yawned.

"You hungry?" Her mom asked.

Lucy shook her head. "Maybe in a little bit." She rubbed her eyes and then looked down at the cup of coffee that Ian had his free hand wrapped around. She scowled at it, like it was the coffee's fault for being caffeinated.

"What time is Maggie coming over?" Lucy asked.

Julie Hale looked up at the clock. "She called about half an hour ago. Said she'd be here around ten."

Lucy nodded. Her sister had gotten married earlier in the year, and she missed it because of other engagements.

"You could've slept in your old room," her mother said.

Lucy nodded. "I know. We just didn't want to wake anyone up, and it was nice and cool in the living room, so we just slept in there."

She stood and walked over to the fridge and pulled it open. She searched through it for a moment before pulling out an apple and biting into it.

"Did you bring the pictures?" Julie asked as Lucy walked back over to her chair.

Lucy nodded. "I figured we'd wait till Maggie got here."

Julie nodded. "So did you find out the gender?"

Lucy and Ian exchanged a look and Lucy nodded, smiling.

Lucy's mom looked up at the clock and sighed. Maggie couldn't show up fast enough.

When Maggie arrived half an hour later, pleasantries were exchanged, and Lucy introduced Ian to her sister and her husband. Afterward, she headed upstairs to her old room, where Ian had taken their bags when he'd woken up.

She opened up her carry-on and pulled out the folder that she'd gotten from the hospital the day before with the DVD of the sonogram and pictures they'd gotten. She brushed her fingers down the side of the glossy paper.

Her brow furrowed suddenly at an odd feeling. She placed her hand on the side of her stomach, and a moment later, she felt it again. Like something was popping inside of her. And then a few seconds later, she felt it on her hand and tears filled her eyes. Her baby was moving, and she could feel it.

_Lucy leaned back on the examination bed, rubbing her hands over the top of her belly as doctor Conrad, her obstetrician, squeezed gel onto her stomach and then turned on the Doppler before turning on the monitor it was connected to. _

"_I am **so **uncomfortable," she murmured as he began to move the Doppler around on her belly. White noise emitted from the machine as he searched for the baby. _

_Dr. Conrad chuckled. "I suppose that's the sucky part of having an ultrasound. Having to drink al that water so your bladder is full." _

_Lucy feigned a glare at him. "You're a man. Consider yourself lucky," she joked. _

_He laughed, turning to look at the monitor as he moved the Doppler lower on her stomach. "What? No lecture for dad?" _

_Ian laughed. "She threw up the first four cups of water on me, and then yelled at me when I told her she had to drink more." _

_Dr. Conrad chuckled. A moment later, they fell quiet as a low, fast whoop-whoop sound began to fill the room. "And we have a heartbeat," he said. A few seconds later, a blurry picture filled the monitor. "And action!" He joked. _

_Lucy's grip on Ian's hand tightened as she stared at the screen. Tears filled her eyes as she watched the screen; watched as her baby squirmed around inside of her. _

"_Here, we've got a foot," Dr. Conrad said as he clicked on the screen and labelled it. He moved the mouse on the screen a moment later. "And a hand…And…" he paused, turning to look back at Lucy and Ian, who were both staring fixedly at the screen with tears in their eyes. "Do we want to know the sex?" _

_Lucy looked up at Ian and then they both nodded. _

"Luce?"

She looked up at the doorway, reaching up to wipe a tear off her face as she looked at Maggie. "Hey. You okay?"

Lucy nodded. "Yeah, yeah. I'm coming. I just…"

Maggie walked over and sat down next to her on the bed. "Pregnant?"

Lucy giggled, nodding. "Yeah, I suppose so. We should go back down before mom starts wondering if I forgot the pictures."

Maggie laughed. They both stood and walked out of the room, down the hall and down the steps to the first floor. Lucy walked over to the table and sat back down next to Ian. He rubbed his hand up and down her back.

"You okay?" He asked. He could see that she'd been crying.

Lucy nodded. "I think I felt the baby move."

Ian's eyes widened. "Really?"

Lucy nodded again, laughing as more tears filled her eyes. "I wasn't sure at first, but then she kicked again."

"You're having a girl!?" Maggie and her mother both squealed at the same time.

Lucy and Ian both nodded. Lucy opened the folder she'd been holding and pulled out the pictures and handed them to Maggie, who was sitting next to her. Coos of mirth and excitement were shared among her mother and sister over the next few minutes before they both finally looked back up at Lucy and Ian.

"Have you picked any names yet?"

Lucy looked at Ian and they both chuckled. "There was _light_ jokingabout Ezra."

Lucy's mom chuckled. "Ezra Harding?"

"Hey, it's a new little liar!" Lucy said, laughing.

Ian shook his head, chuckling as he rolled his eyes.

"I really like Cadence Claire," Lucy said honestly a few moments later. "Or Zaydah Ariel."

"Those are cute," her mother said approvingly.

Maggie nodded, still looking at the pictures that Lucy had given them. "I still can't believe you beat me to having a baby."

Lucy chuckled. "I'm sorry, Mags. I didn't meant to."

_-  
>No I'm never gonna miss a beat, cause I got to be a soldier<br>__And in heaven, maybe he is smiling down on me  
>-<em>

"You ever think about getting married?"

Ian looked up at Lucy's mother, surprised by her question. Lucy had gone to lie down after Maggie had gone home, and he wasn't expecting her up for a while. She'd been so excited to be able to take a nap that he was pretty sure it was going to take a major safety concern for her to wake up before she was ready.

He had opted to stay awake and talk with her mother, even though he'd only met her once. Given that he was going to be having a baby with **her **baby in just a few months, he figured it best to get to know her parents better.

Julie chuckled. "It's alright Ian. It was just a question."

He exhaled a long breath, turning his coffee cup on the table. "To be honest, I do all the time."

She raised her eyebrows at him. "Really?"

Ian nodded. "I just…My feeling were there a lot sooner than Lucy's were. I don't want her to feel like she has to marry me just because we have a baby. Don't get me wrong; if she wakes up from her nap and says 'let's get married' and it's clear that she's serious for the right reasons, I'd propose right then and there."

Julie chuckled. "My daughter's going to do just fine with you."

_-  
>I don't know where you're going and I don't know why<br>__But listen to your heart before you tell him goodbye  
>-<em>

Lucy woke late in the afternoon with a desperate need to pee. She was sticky with sweat from having huddled under the blankets when she had first decided to go to bed. However, it seemed that someone had turned off the air at some point, which had caused her to get a lot warmer.

She yawned as she picked up her phone from the bedside table. The screen lit up as she pushed the button at the top, and she unlocked her phone before opening the text message she had.

**Ian Harding:  
><strong>**Your mom's at your sisters.  
><strong>**I got a call from a friend. Should  
><strong>**be back around six or seven.  
><strong>**Xoxo love you!**

She chuckled before closing the message and moving off the bed. She stretched a bit before looking around the room. She briefly considered taking a shower, but felt too lazy to do something so active just yet. Instead, she moved to the end of the bed and grabbed a fresh t-shirt and a pair of shorts from the bag.

She changed into them before looking around the room. She didn't know what to do to entertain herself.

After a few moments, her eyes fell on her computer bag. She walked over to it and picked it up before walking out of the room.

She made her way down the hall, to the steps, and then down to the family room. She set up her laptop on the coffee table and then left it to load as she walked to the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge.

She returned to the family room and adjusted the central air before sitting back down at her computer.

She checked her face book, which was covered in posts from her friends. She also had new messages. She clicked on the messages, and scrolled down to the one she had going back and forth with Cady.

Her initial message read at the top.

_Sharing an idea? _

_I'm working on this for Ian, and I desperately need someone else's opinion._

_You see how you see the world  
><em>_In the middle of the night  
><em>_And I wonder how  
><em>_You burn so bright_

_Burn me up inside, baby  
><em>_I want to touch the sky  
><em>_I want to see everything you see  
><em>_In these glowing nights_

_You smile like you mean it  
><em>_And you make me see the world  
><em>_In a way I never thought I could_

_It's absolutely terrible right now and needs a lot of work (obviously, because it's not even finished), but… thoughts? _

They had conversed back and forth, slowly working away the little kinks in the lyrics, and Lucy had actually managed to come up with a melody in her head by the time they had finished it. She had yet to share it with Ian, though.

The message at the bottom of the page was new, and she smiled at it.

_So you know how you asked for help a few weeks ago with that song. I'm kind of wondering if you could return the favor….Well, okay, not really. _

_I attached a link to my new single the label is releasing, and I'm quite nervous about it. It's different from what I would normally write about (obviously), but… share your thoughts, please? _

Lucy clicked on the link, and smiled as the song started. The guitar kicked in quickly, soon followed by the drums with and the beat became very clear, but she was careful to listen to the lyrics.

"_i'm patching up my heart again  
><em>_everytime it explodes  
><em>_don't tell me that i've gone insane; i know  
><em>_  
>cause every single day is like whoa<br>__wondering if you'd ever come back to me  
><em>_so what we did everything wrong  
><em>_you know that it was really love actually"_

She smiled, returning to the message that was still open, and clicked on the small reply box and began to type.

_There is absolutely **NOTHING **wrong with that song! I love it! _

After sending the message, she retuned to her wall. She had multiple posts from friends that she didn't get to see regularly asking about sonogram photos, but she was hesitant to post them. It wasn't that she didn't trust her friends, but she wasn't all that sure if she wanted to put pictures of her and Ian's baby all over the internet before they had discussed it.

Only a mere five minutes had passed by the time she was bored again, and she found herself on twitter. She clicked around the website, reading a few tweets and replying to some of her fans before staring at the screen, contemplating an idea.

She clicked on the box on the left side of her page and began to type.

**lucyyhale  
><strong>**Impromptu ustream? Yes?No?**

She clicked the tweet button and then returned to her mentions. In a matter of seconds, dozens of tweets flooded her page saying yes.

She opened a new tab and opened the ustream website. She was already logged in, so she opened a new stream, and waited a few seconds, making several weird faces at the camera until she was sure that it was live. She waited a few more seconds, and the social stream began to flood with messages.

"Is it on?" She asked as she clicked on the record option. The social stream quickly flooded with answers of the fans saying yes. She watched it, chuckling at the typical 'I love you's. It was only a few seconds before fans asked where she was and where Ian was.

"I'm at my mom's house for a few days, and I'm actually here alone right now. Ian is-" she cut off when her phone began to ring on her table.

"_I melt every time you look at me that way  
><em>_It never fails, any time, any place  
><em>_This burn in me is the coolest thing I've ever felt  
><em>_I melt…"_

"And," she giggled, "That's Ian right now."

She tapped the green button on her phone and lifted it to her ear. "Hey."

"_Hey," _he replied. _"Are you hungry? I'm on my way back."_

"Yes. We can eat whatever," she replied.

"_Alright. I'll be there in a bit then. Love you." _

"Me too," she giggled before ending the call. He'd find out why she hadn't said it back when he got back as it was.

"Where's Ian?" She repeated the question. "Getting food."

The next few minutes passed in a typical fashion of her attention moving back and forth between her phone and the ustream, but when Ian arrived about five minutes later, she looked up at him.

"I got Chinese," he said, settling the bag on the table.

"Great," she said reaching for it as he headed towards the kitchen for plates and forks. "I'm doing a ustream. Come join me."

She grabbed a carton of rice and one of the plastic spoons from the bag before looking back at the screen.

"You guys should eat with us," she said to the computer.

Ian returned to the room a few moments later and sat down next to her, handing her a plate and a fork before she passed him the rice.

Lucy chuckled as he moved food onto the plate. "You're getting a lot of marriage proposals."

Ian smirked, shaking his head as he laughed quietly. He looked up at the small camera on the top of the computer frame. "I'm spoken for."

Lucy chuckled, pouring general tso's chicken onto her plate. She looked back up at the social stream. "The fans want to know what your favourite Taylor Swift song is."

Ian contemplated the question for a moment. "Either Mine or Ours." He looked up at her as he finished pouring food out onto his plate and set aside the carton he had been taking chow mein from. "What's yours?"

Lucy bit her bottom lip, thinking about it. "I really like her cover of Drops of Jupiter, but if I have to pick one of her songs… Sparks Fly."

Ian looked at the screen and chuckled. "The fans say you should say 'it'."

Lucy looked over at him. "You say it."

He rolled his eyes and chuckled. "Lucian."

Lucy laughed.

"See, but why can't we be like, Inucy? Or Lian? Lucian makes me think of Underworld. It is Underworld right?"

Lucy giggled, shaking her head.

Ian looked over at the social stream and chuckled. "No, we're not naming the baby Lucian or Ezra."

"Although we did joke about it," Lucy said, mid-laugh.

"Lucy is an angel," Ian said, continuing to read the social stream. He laughed a moment later. "I still don't think it said that last time."

Lucy's jaw dropped and she punched him in the shoulder. "So supportive," she said sarcastically.

"Lucy, how do you feel about people touching your baby bump?" Ian read off the social stream as he scooped a spoonful of rice off his plate.

"Oh that's such a good question," she said. "You know, when it's family and friends, I really don't mind, but when it's random strangers, it is a little off-putting. I get that people are curious and they get excited about a baby, but at the moment, its still my body. Wrong? Right?"

She looked over at Ian. "Right. Call it being possessive, but I see people doing it, and all I can think is that it's kind of rude."

They continued to answer questions as they ate. After they were finished, Ian took the food into the kitchen and put the leftovers in the fridge and the dirty dishes in the sink before returning to the room.

"You know what I want?" She said with a light giggle as he sat down.

"Hmm?"

"Half Baked Ben and Jerry's."

Ian chuckled and Lucy batted her eyelashes at him pouting. "Will you go get me some?"

Ian laughed and shook his head at her. "Sure."

He moved off the couch and walked over to the door, slipping his feet into his shoes. As he did, the door opened, and Lucy's mom stepped inside.

"Heading out?" She asked.

"The missus wants ice cream." He said affirmatively.

She offered up her keys. "Don't scratch it," she teased.

Ian laughed, taking the keys from her. Once his shoes were properly on, he leaned down and kissed Lucy on the lips. "Love you. I'll be right back."

She smiled at him and repeated the sentiment before he walked out of the house. She turned back to her computer, and laughed as the social steam blew up with comments about their kiss. She shook her head.

"And I suppose that ends things on a good note," she said to her computer. "We'll do another one soon. Love you guys!"

She ended the stream and then closed her laptop before walking into the kitchen after her mother. "I miss Jack," she said, annoyed at her own hormones.

"So why didn't you bring him with?" Julie asked as she grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge.

Lucy sighed. "I didn't want him to get all frazzled with all the traveling. Am I entirely ridiculous for wanting to cry over missing my dog."

Julie chuckled. "No, baby. You're just pregnant."


End file.
